Total Corruption
by ShadowLight223
Summary: Samus had finally defeated her evil dark clone and ended the threat of Phazon. In her hurried escape of the planet Phaaze, she barely had time to make it into the portal to escape the planet, but she never came out the other side. Now unconscious and adrift in unknown space, what will become of her? A.U. Metroid crossover with Halo.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note**

Hello random Fanfiction viewer, and welcome to this story idea of mine. I had been thinking of doing something like this for a while now, and had been waiting to get better at story writing before I tried my hand at this. That being said, I think you will enjoy this if you are a fan of Metroid and Halo alike.

Just a warning before you delve into this. You should have a decent knowledge about both the Metroid and the Halo universe in order to properly enjoy this story. That being said, I'm going to try not to just throw things at you that you may or may not know about, and I will explain things that you would need to know about to understand things properly. Underlined things are important, and easy to search up if you really want to know more about it.

* * *

**LEGEND BELOW**

"We've got a live one over here!" = Normal speech.

_''What in the world?''_ = Normal thoughts.

* * *

**-(LOCATION)-**

**-(PLANET-PHAAZE)-**

* * *

The abomination that was Dark Samus let out a heart-stopping scream as Samus finally dealt a true death blow to her. Blue phazon energy arced around her in erratic bursts, destroying the surrounding battlefield around them both. Samus took a cautious step back, her PED-Suit warning her of a massive phazon energy build up coming from her dark clone.

Her own internal phazon energy had long since reached a dangerously high level, and that was before she had landed on the planet of living phazon. She had been unable to vent her internal phazon after making planet fall, and because of that her phazon didn't stop growing larger, reaching a level so high that any type of bio scan wouldn't recognize her as herself anymore. The only difference between herself and her dark clone was the fact that she was still herself, mentally speaking. Her body was too far gone to be saved from total phazon corruption, and she knew it to be true, no matter how hard it was to accept that fact.

The one and only saving grace for her was that the type of phazon strain she was infected with was different from all others. Usually when the body was exposed to phazon, it eventually altered the mind of whatever it was corrupting, and it was always negative changes. Samus knew this first hand. She was there when her fellow bounty hunters were lost to the horrible effects of phazon madness, forcing her to end their lives. She hated the fact that things had to come to that, but there was nothing she could do for them, they were already too far gone, and she had been too late.

But Samus never lost her mind to phazon madness like the others. She had struggled heroically against the greedy and selfish thoughts that the phazon tried to put into her mind, and she pushed forward as herself, as Samus Aran, and not something else. Even now, with her whole body corrupted by the poisonous blue mutagen, she pushed forward as herself until the bitter end. And what that end would be, she didn't know. But she knew that she wouldn't let anything stop her.

Her focus was brought back to her dark clone as its body started to crack apart. Bright blue light shined through the cracks as the black mockery of her own Chozo armor fell apart, revealing a blindingly bright blue entity to her eyes. Samus's eyes widened in shock as the true form of Dark Samus was revealed to her. The similarities between them were astounding. Dark Samus looked almost completely like her in shape and body, the main difference being that she was made up of nothing but pure energized phazon, powered by self preservation and greed. While Samus herself was human at one point, and had been changed by the corrupting blue poison.

A large charged arc of phazon energy whipped around the arena, smashing into Samus's armored helmet sending her flying back. She hit the ground with a painful thud, landing on her back. She struggled and shakily raised her head to look up at the scene unfolding before her. Dark Samus's body swelled up, her whole body glowing so bright that she was unable to make anything out anymore. Samus struggled to raise her left hand, blocking out the blinding light. With a horrid scream, Dark Samus's final moments were over as her body exploded into phazon vapor, before vanishing into nothingness.

Samus lay there on the ground, struggling to catch her breath. Her body hurt all over. Her head ached and throbbed in pain, and her lungs burned begging for precious oxygen. She had done it. She had finally done it. She had avenged her friends and ended the horror that was Dark Samus. The threat was finally over, and she could finally rest, knowing her job was finished...

Her eyes shot open painfully when the sound of a collapse hit her ears. She turned her head to the side and her heart sank. The whole arena was being destroyed around her. Explosions echoed in her ears at random as the roof and walls of the cave system collapsd around her. Her vision was blurred by the blinding light of the massive leviathan sized phazon tentacles as they fell to the ground dead. She didn't know what was happening right now. The moment Dark Samus was finally gone, Planet Phaaze just started to violently fall apart, and she was still inside it.

She needed to get moving now. If she stayed still any longer, she would end up trapped under all the rubble around her. She let out a pained cough as she sat up and shakily made it to her feet. Her legs bent as shook below her, struggling to support the weight of her body. She barely had time to shuffle to the side to avoid a massive chunk of rock from crushing her. The ground shook under her feet, and she found it progressively harder to stay standing as the world broke apart around her.

Samus whipped her head around in worry, trying to find a way out of the rapidly collapsing planet. Her head shot upwards. The tunnel she had used to enter the arena was still open, though only barely. She set her Space Jump Thrusters to max, and not a moment later she took to the air, reaching for the small opening above. Samus realized that she wasn't going to make it if she didn't do something quick. She swung her left arm in front of her, and fired her Grapple Beam. With a satisfying jolt, she found herself flying upward very rapidly as the beam connected to the roof of the cave system above.

Samus realized a little too late that she wasn't slowing down at all, and before she could even shut her Grapple Beam off, she flew up into the cave roof. She grunted in pain as her body actually tore through the cave roof like a bullet and out the other side into a massive ravine. Her head felt horrible, and her vision blurred. She could vaguely make out the fact that her body started to slow, and she started to fall back towards the collapsing cave below. She blinked rapidly, trying to blink away the spots. The thrusters on her feet triggered as her decent was stopped, and she jumped off the air before she rolled into a spin.

Her suit charged up with the power of the Screw Attack as she started scaling the walls of the massive ravine. Her direction was off course because of the hit to her head, and directing her jumps became increasingly difficult. Yet she somehow ended up reaching the surface of the caves where she left her ship. Landing awkwardly, Samus struggled to make her way to her ship. It was only then that she realized that her ship wouldn't recognize her at all, which would prevent her from even entering the vehicle at all. Even then, she still didn't stop running.

When she finally got close enough, she noticed that her ship hadn't been spared by the dying planet. The entrance bay was damaged, preventing access to the cockpit. Her hope didn't shatter yet as she realized that the cockpit's main window was damaged, a small hole in the side. She sped up her sprint and dove for the window, transforming into the Morph Ball to squeeze into the hole. She landed upside down in the cockpit, slamming against the back wall. Her body was begging for her to stay still and rest, but she knew better then that. She pushed off the wall and tried to stand up, only to fall face first onto the floor. Her legs wouldn't respond no matter how hard she tried. Her vision started to go black, and she felt like she was trying to run through water without her Gravity Suit active.

The only thing that she could do in this instance was struggle and crawl over to the control chair. She found the simple act of crawling very hard with only one arm to use, as her other arm was taken up by her Arm Cannon. Yet she somehow managed to make it to the chair, and pulled herself up onto it. Her eyes shot back and forth across the control panel, which thankfully had been relatively untouched all things considered. Her vision blacked out suddenly before coming back momentarily. Her heart rate raised in panic as she barely held off from passing out right at the end. She powered up the map system and set a course for the Galactic Federation fleet that was in combat in the space surrounding the planet.

The ship groaned as the thrusters kicked to life, struggling to escape the rubble that had started to cover it. The windshield was covered in dust as the ship shot forward into the ravine ahead. It started to fall for a moment before the thrusters really kicked to life as it shot upward, heading for the Federation fleet above. Samus slammed back against the chair, the large hole in the window allowing air pressure into the room, setting the ship off balance. The wind pressure slamming against her head was the finally nail in the coffin, and Samus lost consciousness. Her last thoughts before she passed out was the hope that her ship actually made it to the fleet and she didn't get left behind.

Her ship shot toward the Federation fleet on auto pilot. Space shook suddenly as the phazon leviathan opened a wormhole for the fleet to use as an escape. Yet her ship was still relatively far from the retreating fleet, and the chances of her making it was very small, almost nonexistent. The moment the entire fleet had passed through, the portal started to close very rapidly. Her ship strained to make it in time, speeding up to make it into the quickly shrinking wormhole. Just when it seemed like she wouldn't make it, her ship passed through as the portal closed. The thrusters cut out the second it passed into the portal, and her ship didn't make it all the way through.

Even though she had made it into the wormhole, she didn't make it out the other side before it closed, leaving her floating in the void of space. Her ship's lights flickered as the power started to shut down, and it started to drift in the massive expanse of darkness. The last thing her ship read before the power cut out what that she had made it into uncharted space...

* * *

**-(LOCATION)-**

**-(UNKNOWN-SPACE)-**

**-(UNSC-INFINITY)-**

* * *

Infinity, the United Nations Space Command's largest secret project to date. The Infinity is an Infinity-class-supercarrier mother-ship and is the most advanced multi-role vessel ever created by Humankind. The ship's role in the UNSC is as a Fleet Flagship, Massive scale force deployment, and finally Galactic Exploration. The Infinity's main reason for existing is to travel the known and the unknown universe, uncovering potential Forerunner locations, and preparing them for research purposes. The Infinity's mission is focused on peace and exploration, even though the ship is capable of easily destroying a Covenant Fleet without a problem.

But the Infinity's main mission as of right this moment, is to locate and render the rest of the Halo Arrays useless as weapons of mass destruction. The Halo Arrays are massive ring worlds created for the sole purpose of rending a galaxy void of life, which would in turn prevent a specific type of life form from spreading across the universe and destroying all know life in it's path. The UNSC set the Infinity on a mission in search for the remaining Halo Rings a year ago, and they had yet to come across one.

Yet in that time the Infinity had plenty of time to waste traveling across the universe, time that was spent exploring and mapping out the previously unknown space. That time was also spent training the Infinity's crew for all sorts of potential interactions with alien lifeforms, as well as heavy combat training in the chance that they have to fight on the surface of unexplored planets.

Which leads us to now, on training deck three of the Infinity. The deck that contains the UNSC's War Games Training Simulation, in where Spartans train in virtual reality situations...

* * *

Commander Palmer, more commonly known as Spartan Commander Sarah E. Palmer, the commander of the three hundred Spartans aboard the UNSC Infinity, was busying herself with watching over the War Games Simulations happening on the deck below her. She had been disappointed with the reports on her Spartans combat efficiency lately, and had took it upon herself to ramp things up a little. Being the Commander had it's perks, and she knew just how to use them...

That of course being the fact that she could at any time interfere with the simulation and throw unforeseen things at her Spartans in training. Whether that be a sudden lightning storm assaulting the battlefield, a tornado out of the blue sent to ravage the arena, or even perhaps an attack by a Covenant assault ship. Her Spartans needed to be able to confidently face any situation and come out on top, whatever the cost... Let it never be said that she also really enjoyed putting her Spartans through the wringer every once in a while.

"Commander Palmer!" Her attention was torn from the simulation by the shout of one of the Spartans under her personal command. The smaller woman ran up to her with a salute, the light shining off of her Mjolnir Gen-2 Scout Class Spartan armor. The sight brought a small smile to the commander's face. She turned her attention away from the Simulation deck, and focused on her so called apprentice.

"Yes Serra, what did you need?" Palmer asked, giving the younger woman the stage so to speak. The woman, now named Serra cleared her throat before speaking.

"Scout team Bravo came come across something you might want to see." Serra informed, still holding her salute. Palmer's brows furrowed as she thought on what she said. If it were anyone else she would have merely told them to wait, or get someone else to check it out. But she trusted Serra a whole lot, and that spoke something major about her character. It took a lot for Palmer to trust and or respect anyone at all, even other Commanders. So the fact that Serra came to her meant that it must be important.

"Explain on the way." Palmer ordered, getting another salute from Serra before she took to the halls, Palmer following close behind her. Both Spartans quickly but calmly made their way down the halls of the Infinity, heading for the ship's deck elevator.

"While team Bravo was finishing up their last scouting run for the area, they ran into what looked like a severely damaged gunship drifting near the planet. The vehicle itself is actually very small, seemingly made for use by a single operator." Serra explained, getting a narrowed look from Palmer.

"Covenant or UNSC?" Palmer asked, yet Serra's answer brought a frown to her face.

"Neither. It looked nothing like a Covenant ship from any we have ever seen before. It looked closer to a Human design, although not by much." Serra's explanation brought a confused look to Palmer's face.

"Forerunner?" Palmer asked, even though she felt like she already knew the answer to that question. Serra shook her head negative.

"No mam, it is definitely _not_ Forerunner."

A few minutes passed in silence as both Spartans patiently rode the elevator to the observation deck. Palmer's gaze drifted to the super reinforced glass window that exposed the outside of the Infinity. Her eyes locked onto what she assumed was the unknown gunship floating a small distance away. It was hard to make out any distinct markings from this distance, however she could clearly see that it was merely drifting through space, powerless. The green cockpit window would light up sporadically before the power cut again. She could however make out the decent sized hole in the windshield, the chances of anyone still alive inside was extremely low.

Her thoughts were cut short when the elevator jerked to a halt, the doors opening to the observation deck. The deck was alight with life as many lower class workers ran back and forth, carrying various information to others working on site. A random Marine ran up to her with a salute.

"Commander Palmer!" The Marine exclaimed.

"What's going on here?" Palmer ordered, her arms crossed.

"We were waiting for your command before we did anything with the gunship. We've been running scans on it from here in the meantime." The Marine explained, getting a narrowed look from Palmer.

"I see. Well then, what are we waiting for?" She asked rhetorically. "Bring it in." With her command sent, the Marine ran off to inform the others of their new orders. The deck buzzed to life as the people prepared to intercept the gunship. Force fields popped to life to shield anyone from being sucked out into the cold death of space as the cargo bay port opened. The observation deck sent out a tractor beam that easily grabbed ahold of the smaller ship as well as all the debris surrounding it, before dragging it all inside. Many of the workers on site warily watched the ship for any sign of hostile intent, even though they knew that anything like that was highly unlikely to happen.

As the ship entered into the Infinity, the tractor beam shut off, and it fell to the floor with a thud. Palmer sent a glare to the man working the tractor beam system for not being more careful. The large cargo bay doors closed after the ship had been brought in, and the force fields dropped as well. Palmer didn't wait a second longer before making her way down to the damaged gunship, Serra close behind.

Serra whipped out her DMR in the case they came across hostile life, while Palmer's hand hovered over her MAGNUM on her right leg. The air around the deck had become suddenly tense as both Spartans made their way to the gunship. As they approached, one of the researchers called out something to them. "Commander! We've got life sign readings coming from inside the gunship!" Palmer nodded silently, MAGNUM now resting comfortably in her hand. Both her and Serra shoved their way through the debris, and found themselves in front of the cockpit windshield. They couldn't make anything out through the green tinted glass, so they move to the hole at the side.

Palmer made a hand signal, ordering Serra to hold off and watch her back. The Spartan nodded silently as she took aim at the hole, ready to fire at a moments notice. Palmer took a glance inside, her helmet's headlights kicking on. At first she didn't spot anything noteworthy, that was until her gaze landed on what looked like a humanoid combat suit crumpled lifelessly on the floor next to the command console. Her eyes widened as she took in the sight of the strange looking armor.

Bulky looking dark purplish blue legs connected to a waist and lower chest piece that looked as if it use to be yellow and had since faded to a gray with blue highlights that connected to a large yet somehow feminine looking dark red chest piece that popped out as if to make space for something. Two massive purplish blue shoulder pieces framed the chest plate with bulky biceps that both led down to the arms. The left arm was fairly normal looking, give or take the clawed fingers and what looked like something resembling an eye on the top of the hand. The right arm was strange however. Instead of a reverse copy of the left arm, this one was outfitted with some kind of weapon that completely covered the arm up to the elbow. The entire suit was covered with the same weird blue tendrils that almost looked like blood veins to a degree.

Palmer's gaze went up to the helmet of the suit. The helmet was the same shade of dark red as the chest plate. It was designed with what looked like an enhanced breathing apparatus on the front with small durable tubes that connected to the sides of the helmet. The visor was an odd shape, and colored an unhealthy looking shade of blue. The helmet was tilted down, which made it impossible for Palmer to get a clear look at the inside of the suit.

Palmer narrowed her eyes as she holstered her MAGNUM. "Serra cover me." She said, before forcing her way into the ship.

"Got it!" Serra responded, training her aim onto the head of the suit. Palmer struggled with the windshield before smashing it open. The green glass reverberated, yet did not break. With a grunt of annoyance, she kept smashing the thing until it gave way. With the way clear, she entered the darkened ship. She did a double take to make sure she didn't miss anything, before crouching down in front of the suit. She reached out to the helmet, pushing the head up to get a better view.

Palmer's eyes widened when she realized that the suit was in fact not empty at all, if the humanish looking face on the other side of the visor was anything to go by. She took a quick moment to make sure that the suit's wearer was in fact alive, before she called for support. "Serra! Call the medical bay! We have a survivor here!" With that command, Serra saluted before she took off to inform the others of the situation. Palmer turned her attention back to the un-named survivor, completely baffled as to how they were still alive after being adrift in space for however long it took to do that kind of damage to the ship.

A few minutes passed before Palmer heard the sound of the medical staff quickly making their way to the gunship. With an advanced medical bed on the side, the team were quick to asses the situation as best they could in a short time.

"We need a large exit space to get to you Commander!" One of the medical team yelled out.

"Alright then, everyone stand back!" Not a moment later Palmer pounded on the windshield with a powerful kick, making a much larger hole for the team to use. With the way now clear, the team quickly moved in and attempted to move the heavily armored suit to the medical bed. The team was prepared to have to deal with a heavy suit, only to come to realize that the suit was not nearly as heavy at they first thought.

"What's this thing made of? It's not even close to as heavy as a Spartan." One of the medical workers pointed out in confusion, clearly shocked by the weight of the suit.

The team were quick but careful it moving the survivor to the medical bed, taking care as to a void the blue veins that crisscrossed the suit. The entire team was outfitted with radioactive protection suits, in the case that the site had some kind of deadly virus of some sort. The bed was just wide enough to hold the entire suit without the arms falling off to the side. The medical team had been extra wary around the heavy duty weapon arm, as it gave off higher energy readings. As an extra precaution, they had strapped the survivor down to the table with magnetic restraints.

With that the medical team quickly made their way out of the observation deck, heading to the medical ward two decks over. Commander Palmer and Private Serra stood there, watching the team leave the scene. Serra looked on in confusion, while Palmer stared intensely at the quickly disappearing medical team.

"Commander?" Serra asked, voicing her confusion to Palmer. Palmer didn't need anymore from Serra to know the question she was asking, and she didn't know how to answer it.

"I don't know..." Palmer replied, before making her way to the command deck. She needed to see Captain Lasky about this. Just before she left the observation deck however, she turned back to the crew, throwing out one more order. "Alright everyone! I want this place cleaned up, and under _no_ circumstances is _any_ of the wreckage to be discarded!"

"Yes mam!" The crew all shouted in response, before getting to work...

* * *

**-(LOCATION)-**

**-(INFINITY COMMAND DECK)-**

* * *

The command deck was relatively quiet at the moment. The crew was merely doing their jobs in keeping things under check and typing up reports for other crew members to distribute to the correct locations. Captain Thomas J. Lasky, the captain of the Infinity was busying himself with reading reports on the efficiency of the Infinity as of last month. There wasn't much of anything else for the man to be currently doing, as the Infinity wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. They had just come across a new planet that had high signs of life on it, and he had decided that this planet would occupy a research mission for the next month or so.

That of course left him with little to do as a captain. The crew that wasn't currently doing research runs on the planet were taking this time to relax a little bit, as they knew it could be a while before they got to again. That in turn left Lasky with little to do with all this time, besides overseeing the research missions via long range display systems. And that was what Commander Palmer found him doing when she entered the command deck.

"Captain Lasky. Are you busy?" Palmer asked as she walked up to the man. Lasky put down the video tablet he was using, and turned to the Spartan.

"Not anymore." The captain responded with a bored smile. Palmer grinned at the man's attitude before her frown returned.

"Lasky, we have a problem." Palmer informed, her arms crossed. Lasky turned all his attention to her when she said that.

"What do you mean?" He asked, walking after her when she started to leave.

"My scouts picked up a wrecked gunship drifting just outside Infinity around an hour ago." Palmer started. "We brought the wreckage into the cargo bay. The thing was in pieces, and clearly not Human, Covenant, or Forerunner made either." Her explanation clearly confused Lasky if the look he gave her was anything to go by.

"Then what was it?" Lasky asked.

"That's the thing. I've never seen anything like it before... But that's not important right now. What's more important is the one lone survivor we found among the wreckage." She continued, getting a thoughtful look from the captain.

"Alien or Human?" Lasky asked.

"We are unsure right now. My first thought's are human, but we won't know until we can see the whole body." Palmer explained. The way she said that, made Lasky feel like he wasn't getting the whole story.

"_'Until you can see the whole body'_? What do you mean by that?" Lasky asked, reiterating what she just said. Palmer seemed to struggle with something internally.

"Well that right there is the problem. The survivor is completely covered from head to toe in a heavily armored suit. The only part I could make out was part of the face through the darkened visor." Palmer explained, stopping to call the elevator to their location.

"Interesting..." Lasky brought a hand to his chin, seemingly deep in thought. The both of them rode the elevator in silence, Lasky dwelling on this new information he was given. Palmer's eyes drifted to the reinforced window to her right, her gaze flowing over the planet that Infinity currently resided over.

Palmer was a little concerned at the moment. She had expected to receive a call from someone in the medical ward by now. She told the head medical officer to call her when they managed to get the suit off, or at least the helmet. She didn't think it would be that hard... Even then, she had yet to get any new information from the medical deck...

The Spartan narrowed her eyes, shoving the worry off to the back of her mind. It was probably nothing to worry about...

* * *

**CHAPTER-ONE**

**END**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note**

Welcome back to this story of mine! Yes yes, I know, it's been a little while since I first posted this story. And I know what a few of you were thinking, that _'Oh he must have abandoned this story!'_. But I assure you that I have not, and will not do that. It takes a lot longer for me to put my thoughts down into format with this story, more so then any others that I have made on this website. The main reason behind the delay is that I wanted to make sure that it was as good as I could possibly make it, and that took time and effort to do so...

Fanfiction also somehow deleted the last 1,000 words before I could save it, so I had to go back and re-type the ending. I wish that didn't happen, because I liked the first version more so then the second version. They are still the same of course, just worded slightly differently then each other.

* * *

**LEGEND BELOW**

"We've got a live one over here!" = Normal speech.

_''What in the world?''_ = Normal thoughts/communication system.

* * *

**-(LOCATION)-**

**-(UNSC-INFINITY)-**

* * *

The Medical Bay was alight with the noise of all the high tech health equipment placed around everywhere. The head medical doctor stood up on the viewing deck over looking the room below. His vision was currently locked onto the heavily armored figure resting on the main medical bay below. He was concerned with the lack of progress that his medical ward had made in the last thirty minutes. He had personally promised Commander Palmer progress by the time she next came by, but he wasn't sure if he could keep true on that promise.

The first thing his ward had done after bringing the survivor in was run a few quick tests to make sure that they weren't going to flat-line before he could figure out a way to get the survivor out of that suit. But it was in that stage of tests that they hit a roadblock so to speak. The second his medical crew went to try and remove the helmet, some kind of unknown energy shielding popped into existence, preventing them from attempting anything. It seemed to work just like a Spartan's shields in the way that they conformed around the body of the suit. But from what they observed in the short period of time that they had, the shields were much more powerful then any known Spartan in existence today.

He ordered his entire medical ward to attempt to breach the shields in order to finally get at the suit itself, and to say that it went well would have been a lie. The first attempt was breaching them was by use of a repair-welder, and that didn't work at all. The fire merely bounced off the shields harmlessly, almost frying the face off the guy attempting it.

With the danger that this experiment posed to his workers, he had the Spartan he had on post do the next attempts. The rather bland looking Spartan took up the second attempt with the use of a laser-cutter, with similar results. The laser disappeared into nothingness upon contact with the shields. Seeing as that wasn't going to work, the Spartan gave up on the attempt.

Next came the third attempt. He ordered use of powerful heavy duty energy cutters. He knew that this had the chance to backfire on his crew badly if the weapon actually breached the shields. He was banking on the hopes that the armored suit was as strong as it looked, and it actually held it's own against the lasers long enough to shut them down. With that thought in mind he had ordered the attempt. The large energy cutters came out from the ceiling above and quickly locked onto the suit below. He personally flipped the switch to power the weapon on, and waited patiently for the thing to charge up.

It was exactly at that moment that Commander Palmer and Captain Lasky entered the Medical ward. Silence pursued in that moment, as Palmer took in what she was looking at.

"What the hell are you doing!?" Palmer shouted in outrage, shoving the head doctor out of the way so she could shut the weapon down before things couldn't be reversed. The lasers hummed as it powered down before disappearing back into the ceiling. With potential disaster avoided, she rounded on the head Medical officer. "What were you thinking!? Are you trying to kill the survivor!?" She shouted, verbally chewing the hell out of the man. Lasky pinched the bridge of his nose and stood back, letting the scene play out. What in the world had he walked into?

"W-Well... You told me to get that suit off at all costs..." The man responded, flinching away from Palmer's piercing glare.

"And that means trying to laser them to death!?" Palmer retorted angrily. She actually could not believe the incompetence of the man standing before her. She only told him to get the suit off the survivor, not murder them in the process! What kind of medical doctor was he? "I actually can't believe this right now... You, get out of my sight now." Palmer ordered, pointing to the head medical doctor.

"But this is my station, you can't just..!" The doctor's rant was cut short when a Spartan that had noticed the commotion came up behind him, grabbing both of his arms. "W-What the-? Let me go this instant!" The man shouted, flailing uselessly in the arms of the other Spartan.

"What do you want me to do with him, Commander?" The obviously male Spartan asked. Palmer let out an annoyed sigh, as she shook her head.

"Take him away. I'll find someone else to replace him." Palmer ordered with a wave of her hand.

"What?! You can't do this to me! I'm the head medical officer!" The man shouted in outrage.

"Not anymore." Palmer responded as she signaled for him to be removed from the deck. Palmer felt like rubbing her temples as she felt a headache coming on, but her helmet of course prevented that. The sounds of shouting slowly drowned out as the Spartan forcefully led the unwilling doctor away.

"I'm guessing that's the survivor down there?" Lasky asked, even though he already knew the answer. Palmer sighed loudly as she turned to the deck below them.

"Yes." Palmer replied simply. "I was hoping that they would have managed t-" She was cut off when she noticed the body move. The heart rate on the main monitor sped up, signaling that the survivor was probably waking up. The doctors and medical workers down near the medical bed were quick to notice the fact that the suit started moving. The entire medical ward went silent as their attention focused on the medical bed.

* * *

A hazy fog filled her mind, her thoughts scattered around her swarming mind. She wasn't aware of how long she had been asleep, or when she had actually lost consciousness. Her head had been one hazy mess ever since she finally defeated her dark clone. She barely remembered escaping Planet Phaaze before it all went dark, and what happened after that...

Her eyes swam behind her eyelids, seemingly in a deep dream. Then her eyelids slowly fluttered open, her vision heavily blurred. She blinked a few times, trying to focus on her HUD that was flashing before her eyes. Her eyes slowly widened in shock at the first think she noticed flashing. She had hoped that it wasn't true, yet the facts were flashing right before her very eyes.

* * *

**Phazon Enhancement Device online**

**Diagnostics loading**

**Last activation two weeks ago**

**Automated Phazon vent failed**

**Hypermode total current run time**

**336 hours, 47 minutes**

**Unable to shut Hypermode down**

**Phazon levels at 100%**

**Body unrecognizable as Samus Aran**

**Welcome new Power Suit user**

* * *

Samus shut her eyes closed tight, wanting to ignore the blaring warning that her suit had probably been trying to inform her of for the last two weeks straight. Yet it was impossible to ignore that truth, because as she lay there on the unknown surface, she could already tell that her body felt largely different. She was still shaped like that of a human, at least that's what she hoped. She could feel what felt like her feet, her arms, her head, her body, and her chest... Yep, it was all still there. She let out an inaudible sigh. At least she was still in the shape of a humanoid...

She blinked once more, her eyes taking in the sight of what lay beyond her visor. It only took a moment for her to realize that she wasn't in her personal gunship. Not only that, but she wasn't in a place that was familiar to her either. From what she could see, it looked rather similar to a Galactic Federation medical room, but she couldn't be too sure. She tried to sit up, only to realize that something was holding her down, that and the fact that she felt horribly weak at the moment. She let out a confused groan, turning her head to the side. Her vision was partially blocked by her large left suit shoulder, same for the right side. She struggled and tilted her head down to look at her chest, her body was still covered in Phazon tentacles that grew from her overpowered Hypermode state.

"Hey, relax." Samus sluggishly turned her head at the sound of an unknown female voice coming from her right. Standing before her was what clearly looked like a Human in a powered armor suit of some kind. The white armored figure typed a few buttons on a holo-pad, disabling the magnetic restraint around her chest, allowing her to at the very least sit up. Samus once again tried to sit up, yet her strength had yet to return, and she fell back down. She glanced down to her left arm, staring at the armored hand that covered her true body. Her right arm which held her Arm-Cannon, was still locked down by the restraints, preventing full mobility.

"Who there, let's take it easy now." Samus's attention was once again brought back to the armored figure standing next to her medical bed. The figure hit a few buttons on her control pad, and not a moment later the medical bed's back half bent upward into the shape of a chair. Samus almost fell forward as her head began to spin once more, only to be caught by the white armored figure and placed back into a sitting position.

"Hey now, are you OK?" The presumably medical figure, female if the voice was anything to go by, asked trying to gain Samus's attention. Samus's head felt heavy, like she was drowning in a lake of Phazon... Actually she felt like she was drowning in an ocean of Phazon more like it, and it didn't feel normal. It was also making it very hard to concentrate on the medical soldier standing only a foot away from her. Yet she did hear the woman, and so she attempted to face her, even though that alone felt difficult to do.

"Can you speak?" The medical woman asked, typing down a few things onto her holo-pad. Samus blinked sluggishly as she tried to respond, but the only sound that came out was a very alien sounding hiss. The woman visibly recoiled slightly at the sound, not really expecting it. She turned back to her commanding officer who was standing on the viewing deck above her, a silent conversation passing between them.

_''Commander, I was under the assumption that the survivor was a Human, not an alien.''_ The medical Spartan stated through her communication system, her voice not escaping from her helmet. Commander Palmer seemed to glare down at her, though that was hard to determine because of her visor blocking any view of her face.

_''I had believed that the survivor was human as well, mostly due to the armored suit's strangely human female shape.''_ Palmer responded. _''But knowing that they are an alien won't change your ability to assist at this moment, correct?''_ Palmer asked, the way she said it made it clear that the other Spartan didn't really have a choice in the matter. Yet, the other Spartan didn't at all seem dismayed at the order, and nodded back affirmation. She then turned back to Samus, the presumably alien had her left armored hand rubbing at her throat.

"Alright then, let's use simpler questions for now, hmm?" The medical Spartan stated, getting a sluggish nod from Samus in return. "Are you feeling OK at this moment?" She asked again. Samus seemed slow to respond to the reasonably simple question, garnering a concerned gaze from the Spartan. Samus's head once again fogged up, and her head started to spin. She was, however, aware of the warning that her HUD was flashing in her face.

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**Warning**

**Internal Phazon levels at 115% and rising  
**

**Phazon energy levels reached over body's total safe limit**

**Recommend immediate venting of Phazon energy to bring body back down to safe levels**

**Failure to do so may result in total body energization**

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Samus groaned out in pained fear, the alien sounding screech that resulted put the surrounding medical staff on edge. That's why she was so messed up at the moment, because her body was far over the limit of Phazon that should normally be contained at once. It was similar to her deceased dark clone back when she fought her on the planet Aether. Dark Samus had been continually increasing her own internal levels of Phazon during that entire mission, and by the end all that was left was a horribly corrupted version of it's own self. She couldn't allow that to happen to her, because if she did, the it would most likely spell her demise.

Samus's head fell back as she struggled to bring her hand up to her breastplate where her PED-Suit activator resided. If only she could vent the excess Phazon energy that her body was containing, then she would probably be fine. She couldn't ever again vent all of her Phazon energy however, seeing as there was no difference between her own body and the Phazon that resided within it anymore. She was for all terms and purposes, a completely different being now, one created by the Phazon corruption within her.

The entire medical deck was alight with worry when the sensors started to go off, sensing a massive power build up coming from the survivor's body. Samus turned to the Spartan, their visors locking for a moment. Then she flicked her head to the side very slightly, signaling for the Medic to move away quickly. The white armored woman got the hint and backed away, and just in time as well seeing as Samus's body started to light up very rapidly.

"What the hell is going on?!" Commander Palmer shouted from the viewing deck above, leaning over the railing. The survivor had pressed a few buttons on her big red breastplate, then suddenly massive amounts of energy started to vent from her body. The automated defense systems had immediately shot to life, sectioning off the survivor in a four walled see through room. The systems had prevailed in containing and safely absorbing the latent energy that wafted off the survivor.

The entire medical deck stared in awe at the amazing sight. Flashing blue arcs of energy flew around inside of the survivor's room, slamming into the defensive wall systems. Massive otherworldly tentacles rapidly grew from the survivor's suit, whipping around the room thoughtlessly. The amount of raw energy that she was producing at that moment was astounding, it was almost unbelievable.

Then it slowed down. The massive tentacles shrunk until all that was left were the veiny blue ones that wrapped around her suit. The arcs of energy receded into her suit, and the air once again became calm. The defense system finished absorbing the remaining energy, before powering down. The entire deck was silent as they watched the walls vanish back into the ground where they came from. All eyes were on the survivor who was currently sitting back against the medical bed.

"What in the world...?" Captain Lasky muttered to himself. What he just witnessed was astounding, that was for sure. It was probably the perfect definition of otherworldly, without a shadow of a doubt. What had actually happened? Now that was an entirely different mystery to unfold.

"Spartan Jasmine!" Commander Palmer shouted suddenly. The medical Spartan that had been at the survivor's bedside before quickly jumped to action, running back to the survivor. She whipped out an advanced medical scanner to make sure that the survivor was still alive. The now named Jasmine however, only got to scan her for a few moments before Samus's hand came up to stop her. The Spartan stopped when she realized that they were alive, alive and well, if the body language was anything to go off of.

Samus was sitting up fully now, all signs of the recent weariness gone. She took her hand off of the Spartan, letting it rest comfortably on her thigh-plate. That was a sign that she wasn't going to be a threat to the others in the room, and for the soldiers on staff to please lower their weapons that they had currently aimed at her head. Commander Palmer was quick to notice the fact that her Marines were aimed and ready to fire at the survivor.

"Marines! Stand down!" Palmer shouted her order loudly, the Marines were confused but still followed the command, and lowered their weapons. Palmer turned her attention back to the medical bed, and to Spartan Jasmine. "Alright, continue with the medical exam." Palmer called out. Spartan Jasmine nodded back to her, before focusing her attention on her patient.

It only took a second for Spartan Jasmine to realize that Samus wasn't restrained at all anymore, completely free to do as she wished. Yet Samus just sat there, unmoving as Jasmine did a quick medical scan of her just to be safe; That, and to confirm something for herself. The medical Spartan then called over some assistance in the form of a few of the other medical staff. The other Humans were wary to approach the being that had just caused the scene from before, but Jasmine assured them that it would be fine.

"Now then." Jasmine spoke up, gaining Samus's attention once again. "You are not going to do that outburst again, are you?" The medical Spartan asked, though it sounded more like an order to Samus. Samus went to respond, yet once again all that came out was that alien sounding screech, making the medical workers jump slightly. Yet seeing as Samus hadn't done anything, they quickly resumed their work.

Samus brought her left hand up to her helmet in confusion, pressing a few nonexistent buttons on it, buttons that only existed for the suit's user. Spartan Jasmine watched her carefully, while also interested as to what they were doing. Then suddenly there was a flash of light, although not blinding, but it did catch everyone's attention. The medical deck felt like their minds couldn't handle what they had witnessed earlier, but then the survivor did something else. They watched as the red helmet somehow disassembled into thin air, exposing the face of the survivor underneath.

Now, Commander Palmer wasn't quite sure what she was expecting that the survivor looked like under all that power armor, but what she saw before her was not even close to what she thought they might look like. It wasn't Human at all, that was for damn sure. Even with only just the head exposed to them, they were all baffled. A clearly see through blue head that left nothing to the imagination as for what it held inside, framed with these two long angled light blue glowing eyes that actually looked nothing like eyes at all. A mouth was clearly missing or just blended in very well with the translucent body. It actually looked like a blob of energy that held the vague shape of a female human head.

**(((Quick Author's Note. Check the cover image, as that is exactly what Samus looks like.)))**

The two glowing eyes blinked slowly as her face was finally exposed to the air outside of her helmet. She raised her armored hand to her head, carefully touching and examining the part of herself that she couldn't see. Her eyes widened in silent surprise at the extremely strange feeling of her own face, as even through her armored hand, she could still feel properly. It felt wrong, so very wrong. If her new face was properly capable of displaying emotions, then there was no doubt that there would be shock, horror, fear, and confusion; The order of said emotions were scrambled, but they were still there.

Spartan Jasmine could clearly tell that something very heavy was weighing on the mind of the survivor, if the way she stared forward blankly said anything at all. It didn't take a therapist to realize that something was wrong with her, so the Spartan gave her a moment to come to terms with whatever she was dealing with currently. She turned back up to her Commander, searching for an order of some kind. She and Palmer seemed to silently stare at each other, before Palmer turned to Captain Lasky.

"What do you make of this, Lasky?" Palmer asked. Lasky hummed in thought, gazing down at the alien survivor. From the way that they were reacting to touching their own face, he was just going to go ahead and say that what they looked like at the moment wasn't what they were supposed to look like. The shock of realizing that you weren't the same anymore; Lasky couldn't possibly fathom what that would be like to go through. He turned back to Palmer who was waiting for a response.

"I say we leave them alone for the time being. They are clearly going through something heavy right now, and we can't exactly help with that." Lasky stated with a sigh, before turning to walk away. "I'll be back at the Command Deck if you need to find me." And with that, the Captain walked away, leaving Palmer to oversee the medical deck. Palmer seemed lost in thought for a moment, before nodding in affirmation.

Palmer turned back to over looking the medical bay from above. There was another flash of light from the alien's suit, and this time both the left hand and the right weapon system had disappeared into thin air. Now with both of her arms exposed, she took the time to ponder over her new body. Her upper arms were a bit thin compared to her forearms, as now that the suit was partially gone, she could see that her forearms were too large to even fit into the arms of her suit normally. But with her body type, they merely seemed to conform to the proper shape while inside the suit. The ends of her hands ended in three large glowing blue claws that would not work with the normal five fingers of her battle armor, yet they seemed to change into five shorter claws when it was required of them to do so.

The sight of the alien with some parts of her armor suit missing made her look disproportionate slightly. It was a very strange sight seeing the arms that didn't seem to have any bones in them, only the same few red veins that ran throughout her entire body, only to stop at the occasional red neuron-like connections that extended to the main vein. There seemed to be three neurons in each arm, the purpose for them was currently unknown, to both the medical bay and Samus herself. Yet to the changed space Bounty Hunter, it look eerily similar to a Metroid's main three neurons.

The Bounty Hunter fell back into the upward bent medical bed, a silent almost invisible tear fell from her face before she pulled in her emotions and summoned the rest of her suit back, but still left her helmet off for the time being. She sat up to get off the medical bed, but the staff wasn't about to have any of it.

"Hey we are not done with the medical check up! We need to catalog your information for the commander." One of the staff members stated. But Samus was done with sitting down, and got off the bed anyway... Only to fall to the ground in a heap.

"Hey! Are you alright?" Spartan Jasmine exclaimed, quick to go to Bounty Hunter's assistance. Samus was struggling to push herself up off the ground, as suddenly everything felt much heavier now that she wasn't on the medical bed. Samus was acutely aware of the armored hands of the Spartan grabbing under her arm pits and lifting her back up to her feet. Jasmine let her go, only for the Hunter to start to fall again. The Spartan was careful to avoid touching the tentacles of an unknown blue substance that crawled up and around the Hunter's suit.

"Is something wrong?" The Spartan asked, seeing Samus's legs shake under her own weight. Samus let out an annoyed creepy sounding hiss, before bring her left arm to her Arm-Cannon. Without even interacting with it, one of the panels flipped around to expose the alien looking keyboard on the other side. A few button presses later and a mechanical hiss sounded throughout the entire suit. Suddenly Samus straightened out, as the suit's internal skeleton system turned back on, now fully supporting her weight again. Spartan Jasmine leg her arms go again, this time seeing as the Hunter was finally capable of holding herself up without outside assistance... Well not fully, seeing as the Hunter looked like she was unbalanced slightly.

"Are you good now?" The Spartan asked again, gaining Samus's attention once more. The Hunter gave the other woman a nod. "Good. Now then, I'm sure that you probably want to explore around here, but you have more important things to do first." The Spartan stated. "Commander Palmer and Captain Lasky would like to have a few words with you as soon as possible, and seeing as you are now capable of walking, that should be first on your list." Jasmine looked up to see that Palmer had already left the medical bay, presumably to meet up with the Captain on the command deck.

Samus seemed to roll the idea around in her head for a quick moment, before nodding her acceptance. She was on a ship that she had never heard of before, with people that she didn't know who also didn't know _of_ her, and unsure of her location in the galaxy at the moment. It definitely wasn't the most ideal situation to wake up to. But the Space Bounty Hunter, now turned Alien Bounty Hunter, was sure that she would make it work out for the best. Samus was about to follow after the Spartan, when said Spartan gave her Arm-Cannon a pointed look.

"However, before we can proceed to the Captain, I'm going to have to ask that you power down any weapons you have on you." Spartan Jasmine stated. Samus knew she was talking about her obvious weapon system, the one covering her right arm. However that wasn't Samus's only weapon system on her, but they didn't need to know that right now.

Samus brought her Arm-Cannon up, supporting it with her other arm. With another flash of light, the weapon system was gone and was replaced with a reverse copy of her left normal armored hand. The Spartan's eyes widened behind her visor, clearly shocked at the sight. She knew that Hunter could somehow make her armor vanish and also reappear, but she didn't know that she could also replace it with something that wasn't there in the first place. So many questions and yet no answers had come her way. It was very strange indeed.

"Right... Well then. Let us be on our way now. I'm sure Captain Lasky has many questions for you." Jasmine paused a moment, still trying to get over what she just seen. This day had been one strange event after another, and Jasmine didn't know what to really think of it. She shook her head slightly, before leading the alien Bounty Hunter out of the medical bay, and to the deck's main elevator. Samus seemed to struggle with walking slightly, but managed her way to the elevator without problem.

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**Chapter 2. END**

So I hope you enjoyed that, as I truly had fun typing it. But before I say anything else, I _highly_ recommend that you take a look at the new cover image that I posted. That image is what Samus's body has been turned into from the total Phazon corruption. And no it didn't just happen over night, for as if you read the last chapter, it said that she was out for like two weeks or more, plenty of time for her body to change into that.

Well that's all for now.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note**

Hello again everyone! I'm very sorry about the massive delay in posting chapters! I've been very busy with life, and my job, among other things. However, I'm not dead, like probably most of you thought. I put the same amount of work into this chapter as the last two, so a lot of time and going over my work and deleting ideas that didn't work, among other things...

That being said, I really hope you enjoy my work. I had fun writing it.

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**Updated on 6/27/2019**

Fixed the very peculiar paragraph glitch in the first lines of dialog on this chapter. It should look fine now.

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**LEGEND BELOW**

"We've got a live one over here!" = Normal speech.

_''What in the world?''_ = Normal thoughts/communication system.

**-(LOCATION)-**

**-(UNSC-INFINITY)-**

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"You might want to put your helmet back on." Both Spartan Jasmine and Samus were inside of the Infinity's main deck transit system, heading toward the Infinity's main control deck. The two had stood in a rather uncomfortable silence for most of the long ride, Jasmine's thoughts lost to her for the most part. However, they were nearing the end of the ride, and Jasmine had noticed that the Alien Bounty Hunter still had their helmet off.

Under normal circumstances, this would be fine, as most Spartans are seen without their helmets while aboard the Infinity. However this was anything but a normal situation, and Jasmine was worried about the consequences for not taking proper precautions. The news of the survivor being an alien had yet to even leave the medical room, and she hoped to keep it that way for a little while longer; In fact, the news the Bounty Hunter's existence at all had only barely reached only a few select ears at the moment. Captain Lasky, Commander Palmer, Spartan Jasmine herself, everyone in the docking bay used to bring her in, and the entire medical bay...

Okay so maybe more than a few currently knew of her existence, but even still. It would cause alarm if word got out that the Infinity was housing an unknown alien species, and one that was heavily armored at that. That, and the fact that those large blue eyes of theirs were really starting to creep her out. The way that they seemed to stare at her, yet also not. It was hard to tell when their eyes lacked pupils or any other distinct markings. That otherworldly, ethereal blue glow was also sure to be distracting as well.

Blue eerie eyes narrowed at the Spartan, the thoughts locked behind them unclear to the woman. A few moments passed, and Samus had yet to make a move. Just when Jasmine thought that they were going to go ahead and ignore her, the alien closed their eyes in what looked like concentration. Not a moment later a white flash filled the room as the Bounty Hunter summoned her Helmet back into existence. Now with no part of her actual body exposed, Samus looked like she could pass as a Human in her armor suit... Besides the fact that she was taller than any human.

"That's better. I'm not sure how the rest of the crew would react to seeing you, and it's better to be safe than sorry in this situation." The Spartan noted. She wasn't sure if the Hunter actually believed what she was saying, and put their helmet on because of that. Or they just did it to not cause a problem. Either way, Jasmine was thankful for their cooperation. The elevator room was quiet again, the only sound being the dull hum of the magnetic tracks that carried the platform they were standing on. Jasmine took the time to look the Hunter over, seeing if she missed some kind of weapon that she didn't notice before.

"What's with your left hand?" The Spartan questioned inquisitively. The Hunter glanced down at their hand for a moment, before turning back to the Spartan. Jasmine had the feeling that they were glaring at her through their visor. No words needed to be said, as what went unsaid was clear as day.

Jasmine didn't blame the Hunter for feeling like they were in a non-ideal situation right now. She would be pretty heavily concerned if she suddenly woke up in an unknown location, surrounded by people she didn't know, and whose disposition was unclear at the time. Not only that, but they basically stripped them of their weapons systems so to speak. The Hunter still had their weapons but had them all disabled by her orders. That put them in a very stressful, and uncomfortable situation. It wasn't smart to taunt a cornered animal, and you had better be prepared to get bitten if you did. With those thoughts in mind, the Spartan didn't inquire any more from the Hunter after that.

The elevator came to a halt as it reached the designated deck. The Spartan made her way out through the two large sliding doors, Samus following right behind her. The floor was alight with life, with many different class of men and women making their way around the deck. Samus was secretly inspecting everyone that came across her vision, taking note of any identifying features on their clothing. So far she determined that this place wasn't too different from the Galactic Federation in the way that ranking was displayed. She took note of the type of uniforms everyone wore, and the badges that were placed on the chest or shoulders to determine rank.

It only took her a moment to realize that they were on the command deck of the ship. High ranking officials carried advanced PDA's containing important information back and forth to what Samus had to presume was the Captain of the ship. The man wasn't what she was expecting, no not at all. She actually wasn't sure what exactly she was expecting, but the only thing her mind could make up was the gruff face of Commander Dane. But now that she got to actually see the Captain in person, well to say that she was surprised would be an understatement.

The man was of a normal height standing at around five feet and six inches tall. Short brown hair sat atop a rather normal looking face that accentuated interested brown eyes. And those eyes were currently looking at her.

"Captain Lasky!" Jasmine saluted, hand across her chest. The Captain's lips quirked into a smile at seeing the Spartan enter the room.

"At ease Spartan." Lasky stated with a smile. The Spartan relaxed slightly before stepping to the side exposing the armored alien to him. Lasky's eyes were alight with interest at seeing the strange survivor once more. You would think that most people would feel intimidated in the presence of the Hunter, knowing everything she had accomplished in her life so far, and what she had yet to do. But no one here knew anything about her or what she could do, not even slightly. That being said, her overall size and presence alone was intimidating, with knowledge about her or not. Standing at around six foot four inches tall, her presence was made known to the room.

"I see that you are feeling better." Lasky stated, even though it sounded more like a question. Samus didn't even need to be paying attention to know that the question was directed towards her. In response she decided to settle for a nod, it was simple and got her point across. Lasky's shoulders relaxed slightly at the reply, something only noticeable to those trained to see it.

"That's good to hear." He said with a disarming smile. It wouldn't do to have a recovered survivor harmed in some way, especially by one of his own. It was safe to say that the medical officer and anyone involved in that little stunt earlier was swiftly dealt with. This alien was of high importance from the moment their existence was made known. If not for the fact that they were of an unknown species, then because of the suit of insanely advanced power armor that they wore.

The Infinity was on a long term research mission, so it was the only logical step to follow. Securing and protecting new alien life, coming to understand the way they work and live, and coming to an agreement with them. THAT was the Infinity's mission, and Lasky was going to see to that himself.

With that thought in mind, Lasky wanted to get started right away. With a simple wave of his hand, he dismissed the Hunter's escort, leaving the two of them alone. The two of them stood in a strange silence, their gazes never breaking. Lasky wasn't trying to come off as threatening but was merely trying to get a feel for the alien standing across from him. Samus seemed to pick up on that, as she was trying to read him as well.

"Come now, let me give you a tour." Lasky said, breaking the silence. Without another word, the Captain turned and walked away. However, Samus didn't follow right away, too confused about the situation to immediately follow. When she was ordered to meet with the Captain, she wasn't exactly sure what she was expecting would happen. However she did not expect to be treated like she was all that important, and so this reaction was completely understandable.

Lasky stopped when he realized that he wasn't being followed. He turned back to see them standing in the same place as before, seemingly deep in thought. He allowed a small chuckle to escape his lips at the sight, as he had a pretty accurate idea as to what they were currently thinking.

He cleared his throat, snapping them out of their deep thought induced trance. Samus blinked as she realized what just happened, and turned to focus on Lasky again.

"I understand that you must be terribly confused right now, and I don't blame you." Lasky said with that disarming smile of his. Samus found herself subconsciously lowering her shoulders as her body relaxed a little in his presence. "You are a welcome guest here on the Infinity, and for more than one reason." With that said, Lasky turned on his heels and started to walk away. Samus didn't wait around this time and followed after him.

The Command Deck was quite different than that of anything else she had seen before. Then again, the only thing similar to this place was the Command Deck on the GFS-Olympus, and that was tiny in comparison to this one. And that wasn't even considering the level of technology that was in abundance here, technology that was a great deal ahead of the Federation's... Of course, it didn't touch her Power-Suit in terms of technological prowess, but even she didn't know the full limits of the Power-Suit.

Holographic computer tablets were found in the hands of most of the personnel, displaying copious amounts of information. Life-sized holograms were seen communicating with various ranking staff members, and they, in turn, were communicating back. Advanced communication devices were attached to the collar of higher ranking crew members, displaying the ability to create holographic screens that displayed many different deck levels all at once in real time, allowing for a large increase in security coverage at any given point in time. It truly was a sight to see, and Samus almost lost Lasky because of her curiosity.

Lasky turned his head back slightly, glad to know that the alien was still following him, albeit a little slower than before. Turning back, he continued forward toward his destination. A short walk later found them both standing in a more sectioned off room, the only people in there being himself, Commander Palmer and his guest. The room was filled with wall mounted monitors that displayed the various decks across the entire Infinity. In the middle of the room stood a wide table like terminal, with the flat half acting as another type of display.

"Well, now that we are here, let's begin." Lasky stated with a clap. Walking around the room, Lasky positioned himself on the other side of the middle room terminal, opposite of Samus. "Aine, please inform our new guest about their situation." Upon his request, the main terminal lit up, and the figure of a woman appeared. Samus's eyes widened in surprise at the sight; Standing on the terminal was what appeared to be a woman of around thirty years of age clothed in an elaborate looking dress with flowers decorating her hair. Her entire body was glowing a strange yellow and seemed to be connected to the terminal. The ethereal looking woman bowed to Lasky before turning to face Samus.

"Greetings. I am ANE 3567-7, the Infinity's main A.I. You may call me Aine." Aine said with a bow. Samus's eyes widened slightly at the A.I.'s response. The closest thing to an A.I. back in the Federation was the biological Aurora Units, and those were huge, massive even. Resting both hands on the edge of the terminal, Samus bent forward to get a closer look of the A.I.

"I'm going to hazard a guess and say that you've never seen an A.I. before?" Lasky stated questioningly, having a feeling that he once again knew the answer to his own question. Samus raised her head to look at Lasky, the surprise clear in her stance. With a short nod, Lasky's question was answered clearly. "Well then, I'm going to step back and give Aine here the floor." With that said, the attention was turned back to the yellow glowing A.I.

"Let me start with saying that we warmly welcome you to the UNSC Infinity. Being that you are part of an unknown alien species, you gain certain rights that I am to inform you of." Aine started. Samus froze for a moment there, suddenly forced to remember the fact that she wasn't Human anymore. Not only that, but they perceived her as some kind of new alien species that had never been seen before. She wouldn't blame them for coming to that conclusion though, as not even her own Power-Suit was able to tell who or what she was anymore. She hadn't the chance to fully look at her new form yet, but if it looked as different as it felt...

"The UNSC Infinity is on a long term research mission to travel the stars in search of intelligent life. The goal is to come to learn about and understand their ways of life and potentially come to an agreement with them. In light of that fact, new alien races are viewed as guests on the Infinity unless they prove to be a threat to the universal peace we so dearly strive for." Aine informed clearly.

"This means that you have diplomatic immunity here on the Infinity. And because of that, you are given a certain level of free rein here." Lasky explained, gaining Samus's attention. They all went silent for a few moments, giving their guest some time to contemplate their newly acquired information. Samus, to her credit, didn't react outwardly to the information. However, on the inside, she was going over this information carefully.

In light of this new information, Samus found herself contemplating this rather useful bit of news. She could explain to them that she's not an alien, and actually just a human. But that would, in turn, most definitely result in the loss of this new status just dawned upon her. That could potentially result in her being kicked off the ship, abandoned in some random location in space, or worse.

However, if she were to stick with what they currently thought of her, then she would be at a huge advantage personally speaking. This UNSC seemed to be rather gracious to her, offering many things to her just because of the fact that she was part of an unknown alien race. With her on their side, the possibility for potential seemed endless. And now that she thought about it a little more, she wasn't actually Human anymore. There was a very large possibility that no trace of her human DNA was left, as it had all been mutated into something completely different than before.

No, she wasn't Human, or even part Chozo anymore. She was an entirely new being, born from the mutagenic Phazon radiation from the planet Phaaze. A planet that because of her was entirely obliterated from existence, taking with it all other forms of life made of Phazon. This was the second time in her life that she had caused the extinction of an alien race; But because of her actions, she was now technically the only living being made of Phazon left in the Universe.

So by those standards, then yes, she would be part of a new alien race. A species where she was the only one left in existence.

"Do you understand?" Lasky prodded once he saw that what he said had begun to sink in. Samus blinked slowly, gathering her thoughts together. Turning to face him, there was a silence for a few moments before she nodded, signaling her complete understanding and acceptance of the situation at hand.

"Good, good. That makes things much easier for everyone involved." Lasky said with a relieved sigh. Now getting back on track, Lasky turned to face Anie. "Anie, I'm going to need you to make an ID for our guest, level two access." He ordered. The A.I nodded in affirmation before disappearing. With the command given, Lasky turned back to face Samus. "With that said, how will we go about addressing you? You must have a name or at least a title given to you, correct?"

Samus paused at his question. A name or title? Well yes, she most certainly had a name, one that almost everyone back home knew well. Her legacy was truly known to that of the general public, the Galactic Federation, and the Space Pirates alike. She was given the title of Intergalactic Bounty Hunter by the Federation themselves, and the title stuck with her.

Of course, the Space Pirates had also given her a title, one that she actually took a little pride in. And with this title came a fear, an unexplainable horror that no one Pirate could ever truly explain to another. Because most Pirates that witnessed this horror, never survived to tell the tale. The tale of The Hunter. The title had two discernible meanings, both ones that she truly lived up to. The first being that she is a Bounty Hunter, obviously. However, It's the second meaning that truly makes up that title.

Of course, what would a Hunter be without her prey?

Never in the entire history of her life had she ever lost a fight to the Pirates, even when faced with an army at her heels. Every skirmish, every firefight, every battle, every war; Samus always prevailed in the end, no matter the cost. It was for that reason the Space Pirates feared her because no matter what they did, they always failed.

So yes, she most certainly had a name to go by. But now came the problem of actually conveying that name to the Captain standing before her. And seeing that she couldn't speak currently, this posed an issue for her. Then again, she could just give her name in a different way.

Raising her left arm to the side of her helmet, she fingered a nonexistent button. Suddenly her visor lit up with a different HUD entirely, now displaying her scan visor.

Lasky's eyes were locked onto Samus's form, his gaze as curious as it was attentive. He had no idea what the Alien was planning, nor did Palmer, yet he was still looking forward to seeing it. There was a slight flash as her visor started to glow. There was no other visual reaction, yet Lasky had a distinct feeling that whatever the alien was going to do, they already did it.

A sudden beep from his chest emblem caught his and Palmer's attention. Without warning it powered on, displaying information that was not his own. Lasky's eyes widened at the data displayed.

**}****{Data entry Number 13576}{**

**(Name)**

Samus Aran

**(Occupation)**

solo Bounty Hunter

**(Race)**

unknown

**(Age)**

unknown

**(Gender)**

Female

**(Mission success rate)**

100%

**(Missions completed)**

unknown

**(Employers)**

unknown

**(Homeworld)**

Annihilated

**(Armor Suit class)**

unknown

**(Threat Class)**

unknown

**(Enemies destroyed)**

unknown

**}{End data log}{**

Lasky and Palmer stood stunned in place, their minds trying to contemplate the information they just forcibly acquired. The data the alien was still mostly unknown, yes; But they had still acquired some very interesting information about it-... about Her. Palmer seemed to tense up, now looking at the alien- at Samus in a completely new light. Lasky, while still very surprised to learn this, had only become more interested in his strange new guest.

"Samus Aran..." Lasky repeated, more for himself than anything. The man seemed to contemplate something for a few moments, before nodding to himself. His thoughts were interrupted by the Infinity's A.I., as she materialized on the command control table again.

"Captain Lasky." She started, gaining his attention. "The I.D. you requested has been created. Would you like me to add anything of note it?" Anie said, holding in her hand a holographic I.D.

Lasky seemed to ponder her question for a moment before responding with his answer. "I don't believe that will be necessary. Just the basics will suffice for the time being." He stated, before turning to face Samus again. "Is that acceptable?" He questioned. The response he received was a simple nod. "Very well then."

"I want you to know, that even with this I.D. you still will be under watch. You are a guest here yes, but that doesn't mean you get to roam around unattended." Lasky stated seriously, his gaze locked onto Samus's form.

Samus for her part didn't react to his words, as she had already been expecting this outcome. No, she merely continued to stand there silently, like a stone monolith refusing to budge an inch. Her stance was calm, relaxed if you will, with her arms resting comfortably at her side. She knew the repercussions of breaking this UNSC's trust, and she wasn't about to go and do it. It would be completely and utterly foolish to waste this opportunity, and Samus was anything but a fool.

"Now then, with that all out of the way. Let's move on to the next matter at hand, hm." Lasky stated as he turned to face the command terminal once again. "Anie, please bring up the camera from storage room nine on deck Beta." Lasky ordered. Anie seemed to disappear for a moment before returning, the terminal to her left now displaying the requested room.

Palmer could see the Hunter's shoulders rise in what she presumed was anger and or annoyance. It wasn't directed at anyone in particular; No it was more likely than not directed at the fact that her personal Gun-Ship was in such a dilapidated state.

"This was the state our scouts found your Gun-Ship in. We pulled it, along with any debris in when we rescued you." Lasky stated with an understanding frown. Samus's shoulders lowered as she settled her left arm on her thick armored hip, a sign that she wasn't all too happy at the moment. "I'm not sure if repairs are possible in the state it is in, but I will leave that up to your judgment."

Her Gun-Ship was truly in a horrible state. The cockpit was severely damaged, with the blast shield in ruins. The trademark green windshield had a rather sizable hole in it, and it goes without saying that it was partially her fault for that. The entire right wing was torn off, only barely connected to the rest of the ship by a few straining wires. The left wing had sustained major damage, yet was still somehow intact, thankfully. The loading bay lay in pieces next to the cockpit, with the elevator panel bent in half.

The engine room, however, looked like it came out unscathed. It was difficult to determine from the camera alone, yet the damage to the exterior was minimal at most. She wouldn't get her hopes up just yet; But if the engine room was fine, then fixing the ship wouldn't be as impossible a task as before. That being said, this was going to take a while...

"You will have complete access to that room, as well as other low-class rooms. I will go ahead and set up a living space for you, however that will take some time." Lasky stated with a smile. "You are free to explore the Infinity in the meantime. If anyone questions you, just show them your I.D., it should clear things up."

Samus seemed to contemplate what the man said for a few moments, before nodding to herself. She then reached over to the holographic I.D. the A.I. was holding, her hand hovering over it for a few moments before it vanished. She then turned her hand back over, exposing the eerie blue glowing light. It suddenly lit up, now displaying her new I.D. in the same way Anie had been moments before. Samus made a show of inspecting the I.D. for a moment before nodding to herself. She turned to look at Lasky once again, nodding to the man. She then turned on her feet and walked away with purposeful strides, the metallic clang of her boots echoing slightly down the hallways...

"I don't trust her..." Palmer stated, her arms crossed over her armored breastplate. She had a bad feeling about the Alien from the moment she first lay her eyes on it, and that feeling hadn't diminished in the slightest. There was just something about it... Something... Wrong. She didn't like it one bit.

"I don't expect you to trust her." Lasky stated with a frown, his gaze locked onto the terminal next to him. The device displayed the form of the Alien they were talking about as she walked through the halls of the Infinity. The Hunter drew quite the amount of attention to herself as she stalked down through the command deck, heading towards the main elevator unit. Everyone cleared out of her way as she passed, not wanting to interfere in something that didn't concern them. One of the more curious researchers had tried to gain her attention as she passed, however, it was clear she wasn't going to stop anytime soon and ignored the man as she passed by. That being said, she was watched by the crew the whole way, until she vanished from their sight.

"Then why are you allowing her to basically roam free around the Infinity?" Palmer grunted. Lasky seemed to contemplate her question for a moment, before letting out a deep sigh as he turned to face Palmer.

"Do you trust me...?" He asked, his eyes locked onto hers. Palmer was about to respond when she caught the seriousness in his gaze and found her voice dying in her throat. Their gazes stayed locked like that for what felt like hours, yet was only mere moments. Palmer broke his gaze with a huff and turned away, her mind struggling to accept the situation for what it was. The Spartan turned suddenly and walked away, only stopping once to say something to the man standing behind her.

"I always have..."

**Chapter 3. END**

**Author's Notes**

Well, I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I had fun writing it! Please leave me your thoughts in a review, as I always love hearing all your thoughts on the story. I read every review, even if I don't respond to them all. If anyone has an idea they think would fit in the story, send your thoughts my way, and they might make it in somewhere.

That being said, I hope you all have a wonderful day. Until next time!


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note**

Hello! I hope you enjoy this chapter! I especially had fun with this one, and I didn't find it as hard to write as the last. I hope that it's not coming across as too slow, or unbelievable as I try really hard to make it as good as I can. I can understand the pain of the long wait times between uploading, but you must know that I don't have almost any free time anymore. That being said, I love writing this story.

* * *

**Music of the day**

Metroid Prime

Crashed Frigate Entrance

* * *

**LEGEND BELOW**

"We've got a live one over here!" = Normal speech.

_''What in the world?''_ = Normal thoughts/communication system.

* * *

**-(LOCATION)-**

**-(UNSC-INFINITY)-**

* * *

"What do you think it's doing?" It was a simple question, made from one whose attention was clearly drawn to something happening nearby. The thing that caught this person's attention was current wandering about a large hangar bay, occasionally stopping to inspect something that was too small to make out from the distance. But even from said distance, they could still make out the figure of the one they were sent to guard. An odd mix of dark blues, reds, and purples made of the figure of Samus Aran as she seemingly wandered aimlessly around the hanger bay that stored her ruined Gun-Ship.

"Not sure..." Came the response from the other guard, the man's gaze locked onto his (insert proper word here). He too had been watching the Alien, almost as keenly as the first guard. He had assumed they would have done something by now but was disappointed by his charge's lack of action. He and his associate had been standing in the same place for over three hours now, and the boredom was starting to weigh down on their minds. It was actually a little nerve-wracking not knowing what was going to happen, or when it would happen.

"Did they tell you why we had to stand guard here?" The first guard asked, the question plaguing her mind. She wasn't really well informed on her current objective, and that bothered her for a few reasons.

"What the commander told me, was that they-" The second guard started, gesturing to Samus. "-are not allowed to be left unsupervised..." He continued, not once taking his eyes off the Alien. It was hard to do, but the man was dedicated to completing his job as best as he could. If that meant standing still for hours on end, eyes locked onto the only other living thing besides he and his associate, then so be it. What more was there to say, he was good at what he did.

"Well, I gathered that much..." The first guard muttered, annoyed by the guy's lack of a real answer. She huffed indignantly as she continued watching. Silence passed for a few moments before she spoke up once again. "But what's so special about it?" She asked, glancing over to the other guard. "Is it dangerous? Is it important? Is there something we should know about it? Could it kill us?" The none stop questions were really tugging on the last remaining semblance of his patients.

"Yes, no, I don't know. Why are you asking me?" He responded sharply with a grunt, still managing to keep his eyes on the armored Alien. He honestly didn't know why the woman would think he knew the answers to those questions any more then he did. It was irritating, to say the least. She seemed to take his response poorly if the way her body tensed up said anything.

"Oh I'm sorry I interrupted you, you must be real busy staring forward..." She responded hotly, her face set into a scowl. The man finally turned to face her, taking his eyes off of Samus for the first time in hours.

"Would you just-" His voice died in his throat as a flash lit up the room momentarily. Before he even had time to register the cause of the light, he whipped his Assault Rifle out, pointing it vaguely in the direction he last saw his charge. The Alien's suit had changed slightly, as it's right arm was now replaced with some sort of cannon. He was instantly on alert, waiting for it to act out aggressively. Only to lower his gun when he realized that it wasn't about to attack them. Holstering his Rifle, he let out a deep breath. All this standing around had him on edge, and he flipped the moment something minor happened.

"What did it just do?" The female guard asked, her eyes now glued onto the Alien for a different reason than before. She couldn't really make too much out from the distance, but something had definitely changed.

Samus had finally re-summoned her Arm-Cannon, the weapon pulsing with light blue energy. She hadn't been wandering around aimlessly as it may have looked to the guards. No, she was actually mentally taking in the condition of her ship, and what it would require to fix it. She had to first take note of every piece that there was in the room before she could even begin to make out a plan. As it turns out, most of the damage was superficial. The important parts were damaged yes, but nothing she couldn't fix with time. It was the outer shell of the ship that took the brunt of the damage, leaving everything inside only damaged, but not destroyed. Now that she had assessed the situation for what it was, she could get to work on fixing it. With that thought in mind, Samus took a few steps back before swinging out her left arm. A beam of energy shot out of the light on her hand, grabbing onto the large pieces of metal. She then began to drag the pile over to the front of her ship, not showing any signs that the weight affected her at all.

It may seem strange, but fixing her ship wasn't the main thought running through her mind at the moment, nor had it been the last quarter of the day. The repair of her Gun-Ship was important, yes, but it wasn't required for her continued survival at the moment. The UNSC had supplied her the time she needed to do her work, as well as a decent, sized hanger bay for her personal use in restoring her Gun-Ship. Captain Lasky had been rather accommodating so far, and even offered her an area of living as long as she didn't provide any reason for them to revoke her privileges.

So yes, she had some free time on her hands at the moment. And she had decided to do whatever she could to occupy her mind from dwelling on the fact that she had been mutated into something so unrecognizable, that she didn't even want to know exactly what she looked like. It may have seemed like she took the realization well at first, but that was merely her mental training from her time with the Chozo kicking in to repress it. But now that she didn't have anything to really occupy her mind, she was finding it harder and harder to cope as that cruel reality set it. And even as she tried to ignore it and suppress it, she found herself unsure of as to what to do. Hopefully, in due time she would come to terms with her situation. But until that day appeared, it would be a struggle.

This wasn't the first time in her life something affected her mind so heavily, but it was surely the most intense... Samus hadn't realized it, but her thoughts had once again gotten away from her, slipping past her mental control like a parasite looking for any sign of weakness, ready to jump and attack when you least expected it. She finally realized that she had been lost in thought, by the fact that she had been standing in the same spot for the past ten minutes. Shaking her head in a vain attempt to clear her mind, she continued piling up what she could salvage from the ruins.

Over next to the two guards, the main door suddenly opened exposing the Spartan standing on the other side. The two guards eyed the armored super-soldier as she walked in, not once moving from their designated posts. The Spartan eyed the layout of the entire hanger, her gaze taking in as much as it could before she turned to the guard on her right, her blue visor shimmering in the light.

"Report." The Spartan ordered, not too harsh sounding, but still firm enough to get the point across. The female guard saluted before beginning her explanation.

"Yes, ma'am! Nothing much of note has happened so far." The guard started. "Our charge had been wandering around for hours now. Only as of fifteen minutes ago did it begin to start piling up that scrap down there." She continued, a thoughtful frown on her face. The Spartan nodded before turning to face the hanger bay below, her eyes quickly locking onto Samus. The Alien was currently doing just as the guard had described, hauling back and forth heavy loads of what appeared to be piles of scrap. The Spartan glanced back at the guard, before turning to find Samus again.

"You two can go now, I'll take it from here." She commanded before hopping over the railings, landing down at the main floor of the hanger. The two guards shared a look with each other before walking out, the door shutting behind them as they left.

Samus stopped what she was doing the second she felt a presence approach her. Dropping the pile she had just been dragging, she turned to face the newcomer. A Spartan, if she remembered correctly, stood before her with her arms resting across her breastplate. The armor the woman wore was different than the one that escorted her before. This one wore a lighter weight looking armor, leaving more of herself exposed yet also increasing mobility. Their helmet was strange in the fact that its visor was only perhaps one and a half inches wide starting at the jawline and going up over the head and ending near the back of the helmet. Upon closer inspection, she could make out the words Wetwork on the breastplate. She didn't know the exact details, but she presumed that the name must be how they designate their armor classification.

"Samus Aran-" The Spartan started, making sure that she had the Alien's attention. "I am to be your escort for the day, if you would follow me please." With that said, the Spartan turned on her heels and began to walk away. Samus would've thanked the woman for the distraction she had created, if not for the fact that she was currently unable to produce words of any kind. That being said, it was something to get her mind off of her raging thoughts, and she wasn't about to say no. There was a slight flash as Samus replaced her Arm-Cannon with a reverse copy of her left arm, albeit without the grapple function added with it. Samus followed the Spartan out of the hangar bay without so much as a sound, only the clink of her metallic boots echoing through the room...

* * *

As it turned out, the Spartan had ended up leading her to some of the more _populated_ areas of the Infinity's interior. After a short elevator ride throughout the main sectors of the ship, they stopped at a place designated as the War Games Simulation Deck.

"This, as you can see, is the War Games Simulation Deck. This is where every Spartan on the Infinity comes to train. With the technology we have here, we can simulate almost any type of encounter in a wide variety of locations." The Spartan stated as she gestured to some of the nearby arenas.

They were currently standing elevated above the training area on a bridge that spanned the length of the entire deck. Down below she spotted many different groups of Spartans as they took a cool-down session, apparently having just finished a rather intense match together. From what she could see, the group had battled against a massive horde of some kind of alien threat she had not personally encountered before. Upon closer inspection, it seemed like what the Spartan said was true, as the battlefield along with all the bodies that lay on it suddenly vanished as the simulation began to shut down. It was almost surreal, watching as a world that looked almost as real as reality itself faded away, leaving behind only extremely vague textureless shapes that had once formed a world that never truly existed in the first place.

"Hey!" Samus blinked back to reality at the sound of someone calling out to her. Turning away from the simulated arena, Samus faced the Spartan again. She didn't realize it, but the other woman had been trying to gain her attention for the last minute. "If you're done day-dreaming, there's still more for me to show you." The Spartan grunted, not even standing still long enough to finish her sentence. Samus got the distinct feeling that this woman really didn't like her all too well. Not that it mattered that much anyway, as she wasn't here to please every person she managed to come across. One more that didn't like her wasn't going to do anything in the overall scheme of things as it were.

Without any overt reaction to show how she felt about that realization, Samus took off after the woman. The Spartan continued leading her throughout the simulation deck before they finally reached the end of the area. Upon reaching the end they entered another main transit system, this time however they weren't the only two people on it. This was made apparent by the squad of Marines staring at her like she was some sort of alien... Which she was in a sense, so their reactions were completely warranted. Still though, being the center of attention wasn't usually her thing, yet she'd never let that show. She turned her attention to them, her long angled blue eyes glowing eerily behind her dark blue tinted visor.

The reaction she got was unanimous. All the Marines suddenly tensed, now keeping their eyes on her for more than just their curiosity's sake. It was strange, the reaction she got just from locking eyes with them. She was used to getting that reaction from her enemy's or from those that knew about who she was and what she's done. But it was different coming from those that knew nothing about her, or even the stigma behind who she was. It brought up certain emotions that she had truly thought long dead, and she didn't know how to feel about that...

Samus ended up getting lost in thought once more, completely ignoring the outside world entirely. She didn't turn away or close her eyes as she did so, and the result ended up with her staring the group of Marines down, her eyes unblinking as her mind churned through thoughts and memories of her troubled past. She wasn't sure why, but the fact that these men were scared of her without knowing a single thing about her angered her for some reason that she didn't understand. Who were these people to judge her based on her looks alone? It wasn't her fault that she looked this way! What right did they have to make assumptions about her at face value?

Without being fully aware of what she was doing, Samus had began to clench and unclench her hands in a somewhat poor method of calming herself down. Her eyes had begun to glow behind her visor, her Phazon energized body reacting very poorly to her anger. Every crack and crevasse on her suit began to glow an eerie blue, and only got more powerful and brighter as time past. This reaction had most certainly not gone unnoticed by the others in the room. The Marines had immediately moved to the other side of the room, their hands twitching toward their weapons. The Spartan standing beside her was on full alert, ready to react within a moments notice. Besides the hand movements she was doing, Samus hadn't actually moved since she entered the transit system. Then suddenly she stopped. Her eyes came back into focus, the energy build up now calming back down to normal levels once again. Soon enough there was no sign that anything had actually happened to her at all. If she was still capable of breathing, she would've let out a hefty sigh as her body calmed down from whatever extreme reaction it just went through. Now she was left with a headache that felt like it wasn't going to disappear anytime soon.

Besides herself, the rest of the passengers on the elevator remained tense and weary the rest of the way. When the elevator finally slowed to a halt at their next destination, the Marines cleared the way for the Spartan an Alien to pass. They were watched the entire time until they both disappeared from their lines of sight. The group seemed to share a look with each other that said, 'If you don't say anything about it, then neither will I...' The doors to the transit system then closed, sending them off toward their original destination, wherever that may be...

* * *

The Spartan, Wetwork we'll call her for the time being, wasn't so lax around her charge anymore. It was clear that she had underestimated the Alien's threat level if that reaction it had earlier was anything to go off of. The energy readings alone were insane! If the amount of energy it's body contained were so massive that it actually shone through the armor it wore... Well, she shuttered to think of how much it could actually produce if it came down to it.

There was a tense silence between them, though it was more one-sided than anything else. Wetwork was tense, her walk a bit more rigged then normal, especially for a Spartan. Samus however, paid the other woman no mind, her thoughts taken up by the new environment around her. After the reaction from the Marines on the elevator ride, she made her visor only one way, preventing anyone on the outside from looking in. It would hopefully reduce any negative reaction she got from here on out, though she wouldn't hold her non-existent breath on it.

Turning her thoughts away from there, she once again focused on her surroundings. The area that the Spartan led her to this time was the living quarters. This area, just like the Simulation Deck, was filled with an abundance of life. Unlike the arena from earlier however, the only people here were the Marines and other non-Spartans. It was clear to her that this was the main living space for most of the Infinity's crew, and that the Spartans retired somewhere else currently unknown to her.

It was strange, but the Spartan received nods of recognition and greetings as she passed by. Everyone seemed to stop what they were doing to let the Spartan know that they knew she was there, only to then continue on with their lives. Questions filled her head, yet with no real way to have them answered, she was left clueless. She wasn't one to complain so to speak, but she most definitely did not like being left out of the loop, even if she really didn't belong in it in the first place. However, letting her mind stew on it wasn't going to get her anywhere any time soon, so she pushed her questions aside for the time being.

Another oddity compared to the reactions received earlier, was the fact that she was receiving glances and looks from the crew here. The difference, however, lay with the fact that these looks weren't ones out of fear or confusion, but out of curiosity and interest. These people seemed genuinely interested in her, which was confusing if earlier reactions to her presence was anything to go off of. However, the unknown difference this time around was the fact that she wasn't subconsciously letting her energy escape her control over it. When she had momentarily released her control of the Phazon inside her body it began to rage and build up to dangerous levels, and because of that, a heavy feeling of dread had filled the room that tugged heavily on the minds of close enough to sense it.

It wasn't the body of hers that they were afraid of. No, not at all. It was the damage and destruction that her body could cause if she lost control. With just that temper flare of hers earlier, the amount of raw untamed energy she drew forth was astonishing. Samus was unaware of it, but every energy detector within around two hundred feet went off in that moment. Not only that, but she had cameras following her every move, preventing her from ever going around unattended. It was more of a precaution on Lasky's part than anything else.

Samus let out a low almost inaudible grumble, her armored hand resting against her helmet as if trying to soothe away a headache. This action didn't go unnoticed by Wetwork, who had kept her eyes on her ever since the elevator ride a few minutes ago. After the way the Alien reacted on the elevator, she felt herself ready to take it down if it so much as sneezed. It was completely irrational behavior on her part for sure, but she just couldn't help it. Something had immediately struck her as off when she first learned about this, 'Samus Aran'. An alien survivor in possession of some kind of advanced armor-suit of unknown design who had been shipwrecked in an area of space directly in the path that the Infinity was traveling? After hearing this information in the short briefing she'd received earlier, you couldn't blame her if she was a bit skeptical about the whole situation. It also didn't help with the way it walked with those long powerful strides, as if it felt as if nothing posed a threat to it. It was as if she was being underestimated, as if she wasn't worth the time, and that did not sit well with her at all.

The two stopped upon reaching their destination. What stood in front of them was a living area much like the one before, however this one wasn't tailored for use by humans. It was a habitat of sorts, if you could say that. The area was designed in a way that it was more alien-looking then human. The walls seemed to be made up of a different material than the other living space, with the colors more akin to something along the lines of a darkish blue in a hexagon pattern built into the walls. Ahead of them was what could only be described as bio-dome. The circular room was rather large, most likely designed as a gathering area for use by the habitants that resided in the vicinity. The dome must have had some kind of heavy-duty holographic system in play, as one look through the supposed glass window made it seem like they were on the surface of a lush alien planet. It was actually really convincing to look at, and she was quite pleased with it.

"This is the area you will be staying during your time here on the Infinity." Wetwork explained, swinging her arm as if to point out the entirety of the location. Both of them were currently standing on the second floor of the gathering area. Below them was a group of aliens she had never encountered before. Some of them looked similar to the virtual enemies those Spartans were fighting earlier, but these ones weren't armored the same way. The tall one was armored in a red-colored suit that seemed like it was made to represent something important. The next two, albeit being shorter then the first one were still tall in their own right. These two also wore a red-colored armor similar to the first one, but however, they left their head mostly exposed, clearly showing off their aggressive-looking visage. They seemed to notice her presence because they both turned to look up at her armored form. They regarded her presence for a few moments, before turning back to the taller one.

There was another one, however, and it had been watching her since she entered the room. It looked similar to the other two standing nearby, but at the same time was clearly different than them. This one wore armor that was a bit different than the others. This one was adorned in a dark yellow, and most of its body was covered besides its beak like jaw and the back of its head where what seemed like spiny hair was flowing out from. Compared to the other two, this one was a bit less aggressive looking all things considered.

Samus stared back at it undeterred, meeting its gaze head-on. It wasn't afraid of her, nor did it seem to think of her of an enemy. But it wasn't underestimating her either, as it seemed curious more than anything. Samus only turned away when the Spartan began talking again.

"Like I was saying, you'll be staying here from now on. Try not to kill everything you see." She said with a grunt, before walking away as if in a hurry to get away from her. "Your room number is 7." With that said, the Spartan disappeared out of the room, leaving them alone. Ignoring her attitude, Samus turned back to the aliens a hundred fifty feet below. With graceful movements, she hopped over the railing, falling through the air with a few front flips before landing perfectly down below. If she didn't have their attention before, then she sure did now. Raising herself up to a standing position once again, she stalked forward to the group. Upon her approach, the tallest one turned to face her. No words were shared between the two, but they both knew just from stance alone, that the other was a battle-hardened warrior. It was strange just how much could be said without actually saying a single word. The meaning was lost on the other two, as they merely watched them unsure as of what was actually happening. The moment seemed to end as Samus gave a nod of acknowledgment to tallest one with it giving one back, before gracing the other two with a glance.

She turned finally to the last one, her eyes locking onto its own. The alien's yellow eyes blinked at her as it tilted its head to the side slightly, creating the visage of confusion or perhaps even contemplation. Without even having to look down she noticed that its hand twitched forward slightly as if it was going to reach out to her, only to stop before it fully started. Startled by its own reaction, it jerked its hand back and turned and disappeared down the hall. Bewildered by the sudden reaction, Samus turned back to the other three as if for an answer. But the others had nothing to offer as to the creatures strange actions, and if they did then they didn't seem willing to share that information with her. Samus furrowed her brows in thought as she turned to look in the direction it ran, before turning back to a different hallway. She gave the group a glance, before stalking off to her room...

* * *

**Chapter 4. END**

**Author's Notes**

I would appreciate it very much if anyone took the time to leave a review, as I love reading them. I'll probably say more at a different time.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note**

Hello again everyone, I am very sorry for the long delay. I do hope that you haven't given up on me yet, as I'm still going along with this story. I do love writing this, always have. I put my hardest work into this one. Once again, if you see a word underlined like so, then feel free to search it up on google if you need.

As always, I would very much appreciate to hear any and all feedback from everyone! I do truly enjoy reading what you have to say, even if it's not completely related to what's happening currently. I am really enjoying trying to find music that fits the theme of the chapter, and I may even end up straying from Metroid or Halo music down the line, but who can say?

That being said, please enjoy chapter five of Total Corruption.

* * *

**Music of the day**

Metroid Fusion

Sector 1 SRX

* * *

**LEGEND BELOW**

"We've got a live one over here!" = Normal speech.

_''What in the world?''_ = Normal thoughts/communication system.

* * *

**-(LOCATION)-**

**-(UNSC-INFINITY)-**

* * *

The room was just about dead quiet, with the only sound coming from the soft, almost living sounding hum of the Power-Suit. The only source of light was coming from the corrupted phazon blue energized visor as it stared blankly forward. Samus was currently resting against the back wall of her room, sitting in one of the chairs provided for her. She was still fully armored in the Power-Suit, and had yet to power down.

However she wasn't relaxing. From the moment she awakened in the Infinity's medical bay, it had been a nonstop string of one sided conversations back to back, and with no way to communicate, it really was going to start causing problems her in the long run. And so she decided to rectify that problem right here and now. That's why she currently wasn't doing anything else on the ship. Samus was currently inside the Power-Suit's brain, so to speak. A sort of mental space where she could access everything down to the suit's specs and its internal systems. Nothing escaped her eyes here. She found herself floating around in a massive canvas, dodging and weaving between many hundreds of thousands of systems she didn't need to go into. She finally found what she was looking for inside the communications systems. With a few tweaks here and there, she managed to add a speaker system re-breather mouth guard.

It wasn't too hard to manage the creation of a speaker, but then came the part where she created a way for herself to speak through it. From her extreme lack of knowledge concerning her new body, she currently had no way of speaking through it that she knew of. That posed a problem, and was the reason she was currently trying to make a work around. When the answer found her, she realized that it wasn't as big a problem as she first made it out to be.

The Power-Suit was a brilliant creation of technology made from the hands of the some of the smartest beings known to the universe. The Chozo's minds were unparalleled, and so it should come with no surprise that they had instilled some of that wisdom into their best creation. It was because of that wisdom that Samus found herself in the strange dimensional space that housed the internal workings of the Power-Suit's mainframe. It was also because of that, that the idea transferring her thoughts into speech via the Power-Suit should have come to her much sooner then it did.

It only took a few moments before she managed to channel her thoughts to the speaker. The voice that came out wasn't exactly hers. Her voice sounded similar to her human one, but at the same time radically changed. There was a much darker tone to it, not exactly deeper, just darker. It sounded wrong to her. Wrong in the way that it didn't just sound different, but it sounded unnatural, alien... The one thing she was grateful for was the fact that her voice was still feminine. With that problem finally out of the way, she would now be able to focus on anything else that required her attention. That current train of thought brought her to the situation regarding her body...

The Power-Suit lit up slightly as if stretching before Samus stood up once again. Her head tilted as she stared down at her armored hands through her visor. Without even powering part of the suit down she knew something was seriously different. She didn't have to see it, she could feel it. She also knew just from feeling alone that her Zero-Suit was gone, leaving her basically naked inside the suit. That didn't bother her nearly as much as you'd probably imagine it would, but it was what that meant that worried her. She shook her armor covered head slightly, trying in a vain attempt to calm her rattled nerves.

Her arms dropped to rest at her side as she closed her eyes in concentration. The Power-Suit glowed a strange off colored blue as she willed it away, leaving no part of it on. For the first time in around probably two months, Samus felt something besides her suit around her body.

Her eyes widened at the strange feeling of not touching the ground. She looked down only to find out that she was in fact actually floating in the air. She leaned forward to look down more, but only ended up slowly rolling through the air. With a slightly startled growl, she swung her arms out in an attempt to find something to brace herself with and ended up grabbing onto the nearby desk. Now that she wasn't about to start floating anywhere again, she took a moment to gather herself.

A shocked chirp escaped from her as she mentally tried to take in her strange alien body. Blue... There was an overwhelming amount of blue. Her entire body seemed to be made up of this strange blue substance. What's more was the fact that she was completely translucent, allowing her to see the entire inner working of her body. It almost seemed like she was made entirely of a phazon like slime that had conformed into the vague shape of a human female. Two long shapely legs connected to an equally slim waist and butt that smoothed out to a toned stomach topped with two featureless breasts, from there her shoulders connected with her smooth arms that formed into two large forearms that ended with three large claws.

She turned around to face the mirror, taking in her body from a different perspective. Her head was oddly shaped, yet it still somewhat resembled a human's in its form. Her face was framed with these two long glowing vertical eyes, but no mouth or nose was apparent. She also noticed a strange almost ponytail like appendage connected to the back of her head, it was also made of the same material and seemed to be filled with these strange glowing red orbs that looked strikingly similar to the nuclei of a Metroid...

Her eyes widened in shock when she realized that her body's internal working were mostly structured after a Metroid's. No lungs, no heart, no internal organs, nothing but multiple different clusters of nuclei all placed at different parts of her body. Her thighs had large clusters, making them seem a bit thicker then normal. Her large forearms had them as well, and even more were centered around her chest. All of the clusters were connected by thin red veins that most likely transferred energy back and forth to different parts of her body.

She raised her claws to her face placing them against her cheeks, her eyes were unfocused as she spaced out momentarily. _''Why...?''_ She questioned herself silently even though she already knew the answer. She didn't know how long she stayed there floating in front of the mirror, and she didn't really care. Her mind was drawing a solid blank, and she couldn't bring herself to do anything else but float there and stare. Minutes that felt like hours passed in total silence, and before she knew it she had started to drift off to sleep, the stress of it all finally getting to her. She was probably out cold for about five minutes before she was rudely awakened by the sound of someone knocking on her door quite loudly.

Her head sprang up, slamming painfully into the table she fell asleep next to. A pained alien like screech escaped from her as she whipped her head around to face the door. A sharp growl emanated from her throat as she struggled to simply make her way to the door, controlling yourself in the air was not as easy as you would think. She ended up having to pull herself along the wall in order to reach the door as she still wasn't touching the ground. Whoever was knocking apparently didn't hear her growling, or maybe they couldn't, because when she slammed the door open, her angered growl became very apparent.

"Captain Lasky requires-" The woman started when she saw the door start to open, only to rear back in shock at the sight of the snarling alien suddenly in her face. She stumbled backwards, almost falling over in her attempt to back away.

Where beforehand a mouth didn't seem present, a jagged horizontal line had opened across where her mouth used to be. Samus didn't move from her position within the doorway, her right claws gripping tightly onto the framework, keeping her grounded so to speak. Her eyes narrowed at the woman below her, her tolerance for the situation already reaching its peak. The sputtering marine quickly got to her feet when she realized the alien wasn't going to move and or potentially attack her, but she ended up keeping a healthy distance from the female alien for her own sake.

"C-Captain Lasky requires you on the command deck." The marine informed, mentally cursing her inability to maintain strong image in front of a little adversity. That was the reason she was still a private after all, but that's nothing she would be bringing up publicly anytime soon.

Samus narrowed her eyes in what the marine associated with extreme irritation, before she suddenly summoned her full suit back and quickly made her way down the hall toward the main elevator, leaving the stunned marine behind. The woman stared in shock as Samus disappeared around a corner, her mind reeling at what she just witnessed happen. She spared a glance back the door only to blank at the three large burn holes left in the door, presumably from Samus's claws. Deciding that staying there probably wasn't in her best interest, she turned on her heels and walked away...

* * *

The elevator ride to the command deck was a rather quick one. There had only been a bundle of marines on the transit system alone side her. They didn't make a fuss about her and generally kept to themselves the whole way. When her stop arrived she quickly disembarked from the platform before quickly making her way to where she presumed Captain Lasky was currently residing. She passed by a few curious researchers before entering into the command deck, quickly spotting Lasky standing next to a viewing terminal. The man turned away from what he was doing when he heard Samus enter.

"Ah Samus, glad you could join me. I hope I didn't wake you." Lasky said with smile. Samus placing her hands on her hips was clear enough indication that, yes, yes he did in fact wake her up from probably what was going to be a great nights rest. Frowning mentally to himself, he decided to continue. "Well now that you are here, I can begin." He stated, turning back to the terminal.

The holo-projecters powered up, displaying a replay of something that went down around an hour ago. It displayed a replay of what looked like a squad of marines getting their asses handed to them from some kind of local wildlife, the crew barely escaping only for their ship to be suddenly shot down from some unknown source. Samus eyed the hologram curiously before turning her attention back to Lasky.

"This is the footage of one of my research crews before we lost contact. We've been trying to gain contact since then, but I'm starting to fear the worst." Lasky informed, before bringing up a file. "This is the latest recon we have of the landing site, but from there we're blind." Lasky passed the PDA over to her, giving the Bounty Hunter a moment to go over it. Samus glanced down at the electronic tablet, quickly scanning through the information, taking note of anything she deemed important to the situation. After a few moments she handed the tablet back to Lasky.

"Explain." The sudden voice caught Lasky off guard, but he tried not to let it show. Samus had her hands resting on her hips again, a pose that Lasky was quickly becoming familiar with. Lasky sighed as he realized there was no point at beating around the bush any longer.

"You are a Bounty Hunter, yes? I had been thinking up ways to build a bond between the UNSC and yourself, and accomplishing missions for us would prove to be a good way to start that bond." He stated seriously, clasping his hands together under his chin. Lasky gave her a second to go over what he said before turning away. "Right now, you are a mystery to us all. All that anyone knows is that you were recovered from a ruined Gun-Ship that was found drifting through uncharted space, nothing more. That's not going to suddenly throw you into the good graces with anyone..." He stated, turning back to face her once more. Samus was standing in silence, taking in what he was saying. "The main reason you have even been given this chance is because you are not human, as backwards as that may sound out loud..."

"I understand." Samus' response was short and to the point, something Lasky would eventually come to understand as normal for the estranged Intergalactic Bounty Hunter. Samus understood quite well the situation she was in, as she had been in it before to a certain degree. However this time wasn't going to be the same as before. A lot had changed since then, and adjusting to it this time around might prove harder then she initially thought.

"Right then, let's get down to business." Lasky stated, entering a few commands into the computer. Another hologram popped up, displaying the researchers resent flight path and their landing zone on the planet below. "I'm going to be sending you with a little back up. I know you most likely work alone, but this is non negotiable at this time." Lasky stated, bringing up a few files on a search and rescue squad, and the people that made up the squad. "You will be working alongside Spartan Fireteam Castle for the duration of this mission. You'll be leaving in the next thirty minutes, so I recommend you prepare now." Samus downloaded the mission information, before turning to face Lasky.

"Mission excepted." Samus responded, before turning on her heels and making for the exit. She was wanting to get the mission over with as soon as possible, and being that it was in fact a rescue mission in general, Lasky approved of her haste...

* * *

"Alright people, let's load up!" The pelican bay was a bundle of activity, as Marines and ODST'S alike ran about preparing for some unknown missions assigned to them. The infinity wasn't on red alert or anything along those lines, so it was most likely just a drill, making sure that the crew was ready at a moments notice. However, there was one small group that actually was preparing for a mission, and the group leader was keen on making sure that their job was completed as efficiently and quickly as possible.

Ernst Deming. Spartan IV and leader of Fireteam Castle. The man was smart and knew what to do and when to do it. He was a good team leader and a good soldier, and right now, all he wanted was to get planet side and offer assistance to the research team. Of course that meant that their pelican needed to be loaded out with everything a mission of this kind may require, and he wasn't about to skip out on bringing along some extra firepower. Suited out in the ENFORCER-class armor, he made an imposing figure. His armor was made for enhanced field assessment and advanced awareness, a trait common with most Fireteam team leaders on the Infinity. His squad was made up of six members, himself being one of them.

The rest of his squad however, were classed out in entirely different armor permutations. Estey-Bethel, Lincoln, Dunlap, Casillas, and Tashi made up his Fireteam. Tashi, Lincoln, and Casillas were suited out in lightweight armor, wearing BREAKER-class, BUCCANEER-class, and NOMAD-class respectively. Dunlap was suited out in the MAVERICK-class armor, the suit's purpose was fairly simple and didn't offer much besides the basics. Last however, was Estey. Her armor was strange to say the least. She was suited out in the VENTURE-class armor which was probably one of the lightest armors to begin with, however she wore a stripped down version of the armor, leaving almost nothing up to the imagination with the skintight under suit she wore. The armor had light plating, and had just about nothing covering her chest at all, save for some collarbone protection. The purpose of this suit is unclear, however it wasn't designed around use for combat, so that may have something to do with the extreme bare bones design.

Fireteam Castle was based around light recon and rescue missions such as this one, with everyone suited out as best they could for what they were doing. The team was currently prepping their personal Pelican for the mission when they spotted someone approaching them. Ernst, being the leader of the group, took it upon himself to greet the newcomer. The entire team stopped momentarily at the sight of the dark blue armored Bounty Hunter as she approached.

"May I help you?" Ernst asked, keeping his gaze locked onto the Hunter, and more importantly what he presumed was some kind of weapon system covering her right arm. The Hunter didn't slow in her approach, and continued to strut her way over to him, only to stop a few feet away. At this point the team had finished preparing, and were now watching the Hunter and their team leader. Samus raised her left hand, activating the holographic display and bringing up the mission details giving to her by Lasky. Ernst took a moment to read over it before looking up to her face.

"I've been hired to assist you." Samus stated simply, lowering her hand back to her hip. Ernst seemed to understand as he nodded slightly before returning to the Pelican.

"I see, so you're the backup that Captain Lasky is sending us with." Ernst said, stepping up into the loading bay. "Well then, hop in everyone; We've got some people to save." He stated, heading deeper into the ship until he sat at the command console. The other Spartans quickly followed suit, finding their spots on the ship. Samus followed after them, taking a seat next to Estey. There was a height difference between Samus and the Spartan beside her, and them sitting next to each other didn't exactly help hide that fact. The Spartan quickly locked the safety straps in place across themselves, and sat back in the seats. Samus would have done so as well, but the safety strap wasn't long enough to cover across her suit, and so she didn't bother attempting again, and merely took hold of the handle above her for safety.

The ship shook as the engine kicked on, the thrusters heating up. A few moments passed before the vehicle picked up off the ground, and began to turn to the shuttle bay doors. A warning call was heard as the pelican began to move, signaling for everyone outside it to vacate the area. The sound of bay doors opening could be clearly heard through the hull of the ship, and only moments later the pelican's main thrusters kicked on, propelling it into outer space.

Samus glanced around the room, taking note of each member of the fireteam. Each of the Spartans were busying themselves with double checking and triple checking their weapons, making sure everything was in place and that they had enough ammo. Some of the Spartans seemed to be a little more prepared then the others. She noticed that one of the members was clearly under-armored compared to the rest. The woman was also less armed then the others too, seeming to be armed with nothing more then a single sidearm. The reason behind this was unclear to her, and she had a feeling that the woman may prove to a hindrance on the mission. But that wasn't important at the moment, so she pushed it to the side for the time being.

A few minutes passed in relative silence, the Spartans keeping to themselves for the most part. However one of them seemed to have something troubling her, as she kept shooting minor glances at Samus when she thought the hunter wasn't looking. Of course, Samus most certainly did notice, as the next time the Spartan went to look, Samus locked gazes with her. Taking that as her cue to voice her thoughts, Ester spoke up.

"You said you were hired to help us... What exactly did you mean by that?" The woman asked, tilting her head slightly to the side. She wasn't alone in her thoughts, as the other Spartans turned to listen in as well, clearly having thought the same thing. The others weren't as troubled by it, but were interested anyway. Samus seemed to give it a moment of thought, before openly responding to their inquiries.

"I am a Bounty Hunter." She replied coolly, not relaying exactly how she felt about their questions or what she thought of them. Her answer clearly caught the team off guard, if the way they seemed to tense up slightly was any indication. However she didn't react to their reactions, clearly not worried in the slightest for her own safety. Seeing that an uncomfortable silence had set in, she decided to further elaborate on what that meant. "I am paid to complete missions for my contractor, and your Captain Lasky has become my new contractor." She stated in a matter of fact tone, as if what she was saying was obvious. The team seemed to understand, yet were filled with even more questions. However the time for talk was over, and they decided to file this information down for later.

"We're approaching the landing site people! Get ready to move!" Team leader Ernst shouted from the front of the pelican. The Spartans did a quick final suit check before turning to face the back hatch as it opened up. One by one the super soldiers ran and jumped out, landing onto the ground below and quickly scanning their surroundings for hostiles. After a quick check they realized that they were safe, for the moment anyway. They glanced back up to the pelican that had yet to land, safely hovering fifty feet in the air above them. Then finally Samus appeared on the hatch, looking down around the landing site in her own area check. Satisfied that she was clear of any hostiles within the immediate vicinity, she leap high up into the air with front flip in an incredible show acrobatic skill before landing in the ground below, crouched down with one hand on the ground. She quickly stood up and joined with the group, ignoring the 'show off' that a few of the Spartans mumbled in what she thought was slight amazed shock.

After gaining their barrings, the Fireteam set out to cover the area. Their current position was in a small area lacking any sort of vegetation, and surrounding them on all sides was thick alien jungles, darkened by the thicket of leaves that seemed to block out the skies above. To the west of their landing site was the makeshift campsite that most likely belonged to the research team. To the north was nothing but jungle, with the east cut off by a deep cliff-side. However, the southern area was a different story entirely.

Without prompt, Samus began to move toward the area, her scan visor active and roaming. The area was clearly the site of a struggle, one that the researchers most likely lost. Littered around the area were stains, blood stains. Her suit detected it as human blood, but yet, some of it wasn't.

"Hey, where are you going?" Lincoln grunted, watching as the Hunter deftly made her toward something they apparently didn't notice at first. His eyes widened when he realized what he was looking at. Raising a hand to the side of his helmet, he radioed Ernst. "Sir, I think we found the location of the crash site..." The research team's pelican was on its side with half of the cockpit buried into the ground. The vehicle had clearly been shot down, but by what remained to be seen. A fire had broken out but had recently died down, leaving the ship in a ruined state.

Samus stopped suddenly, almost making the Spartan behind her run into her. Before the soldier could utter a word, Samus brought her left hand up and placed a single finger against her respirator, a motion that the fireteam quickly realized that meant for them to be quite. Her head swiveled to the right, her gaze locked onto something the rest of the squad couldn't see. Quietly, Samus made her way to the front of the group, shielding them behind her body. A low hiss came from her suit as her Arm-Cannon powered on, ready for combat.

The squad was suddenly aware of a loud screech as it echoed in the distance. The Spartans were quick to action, placing themselves in a protective circle. Another screech filled their ears, and they were able to pinpoint its location this time. The sound was coming from the densely packed jungle to the north of their position.

"What was that?" Estey asked, training her Magnum on the jungle. The other Spartan's didn't respond, too busy keeping their senses open for a surprise attack. Estey's focus was pulled away when Samus reached up and fingered for an invisible button on her helmet. A moment later the Hunter's Thermal-Visor powered on, tracking the heat signatures in the distance.

The group tensed suddenly when they saw someone actually run out from the jungle. Screaming like a mad man, a researcher came bounding out from the forest in a terrified sprint. However, he wasn't alone. Behind him, some kind of alien creature jumped out, teeth bared and ready for the kill. Samus didn't waste a moment, jumping in to cover the poor man. Raising her Arm-Cannon, she fired a quick burst of Power-Beam shots. The low level weapon proved efficient enough, and the creature fell to the ground dead. With the threat momentarily over, Estey, the medic of the group ran to the man's aid. But as she approached, Samus's voice suddenly filled the clearing.

"We are not alone here anymore..." Her words quickly got the fireteam back into action, scanning their area for anymore threats. Their heads were trained on the jungle as random sounds and shadowy figures filled their senses. Samus backed away from the jungle, placing her back against another Spartan.

Suddenly, what sounded like hundreds of creatures screeching filled the area, echoing loudly around the cliffs. Samus snapped her Cannon to the forest as the first of hundreds of the alien from before bounded out in a frantic frenzy, their eyes crazed and their minds blood thirsty. She fired the first shot, and everything was set off. The horde suddenly burst forward. The squad was cornered on all sides, no clear exit path to the safety of their ship. They were surrounded.

"Open fire!"

* * *

**Chapter 5. END**


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note**

I believe it should be obvious by now that I take certain liberties when making a story, and I hope that doesn't come across as negative. I'm not throwing around random unbelievable nonsense, but I try to make it enjoyable for you all. That being said, please enjoy the latest Chapter of Total Corruption

* * *

**Music of the day**

* * *

**LEGEND BELOW**

"We've got a live one over here!" = Normal speech.

_''What in the world?''_ = Normal thoughts/communication system.

* * *

-(LOCATION)-

-(UN-NAMED PLANET)-

* * *

She honestly didn't know why she was caught unaware in this situation again. It wasn't the first time in her bounty hinting career that she suddenly found herself surrounded on all sides with no sure way out. Usually she pushed through without sustaining harm, yet that wasn't always the case.

She had seen how a situation like this ends for those caught unaware; The Federation squad that landed on the planet Aether was a perfect example. They didn't survive the surprise attack, and she ended up having to fight off a horde of enemies, albeit a smaller number of course. Then again on the Space Pirate home world, she was assaulted by a lethal strike team led by one of the highest ranking pirate commanders. She survived that one too, even though it was a rather close call.

Yes even then, she still found times where she was caught completely off guard...

Like now for instance...

"Open fire!" It was like the flood gates were opened. Hundreds of strange and very dangerous alien creatures burst forth from the jungle, practically climbing over each other in the attempt to reach the object of their blood thirsty desires. With each one that the squad shot down, another one appeared in its place. The Spartan Fireteam stuck true to their training, and kept their composure. However, it began to dawn on them that they would lose this fight if they chose to stay instead of finding an escape route. That, and the fact that they were blowing through ammo at an alarming rate really didn't sit well with them.

"I'm out of ammo!" Estry's shout rang out through the clearing, followed by the sound of a gun dropping to the ground and a titanium hardened knife being drawn. Relying on nothing but a knife wasn't the best idea, but in this situation, the best idea wasn't possible anymore. Estry was forced to rely on her hand to hand skills as she was suddenly rushed by a group of aliens, suddenly thankful for her armors low silhouette, making it easier to dodge and harder for them to grab a hold of her.

The other members of Fireteam Castle were not fairing too much better then she was. With every enemy they took down, it was less ammo they had to use against the next. The Spartans slowly backed up until they were standing back to back with each other, their last defence in s situation like this. It wasn't long after that, that the sound of three more knifes being drawn echoed throughout the area.

However, it dawned on them that the amount of aliens rushing them had drastically lowered. Their attention was drawn to the odd one out in their group, as she stood unmoved from her previous position. It was then that they realised why the number if their attackers lowered so much. Samus had been systematically eliminating the threat from the start, spinning around and snipping the creatures out of the air at a speed that was hard to keep track of. Left, right, up, right, left, above, right, behind. The creatures never even got close enough to even put a scratch on her armor, as they were ruthlessly put down with terrifying accuracy. The Fireteam was so caught up with Samus's fighting style that they almost allowed themselves to get caught off guard from a few stray aliens. Almost.

Cowering behind the Bounty Hunter was the last remaining member of the research team. The poor thing was practically glued to the Hunter's back, terrified out if his mind.

"What are you four doing?!" Samus's annoyed shout filled the area, gaining the attention of the soldiers. "I have you all covered. Get back to your drop-ship now!" They didn't even stop to debate her order, realising that this would be their only chance to escape safely.

"Fall back! Retreat!" Lincoln shouted, as he turned and made a sprint back to the pelican. The other three quickly followed, only stopping to fight off their attackers. They found their retreat covered, as anything that neared them was shot down by blazing Power-Beam shots. The pelican quickly came into view, hovering only a few feet off the ground. The second they got close enough to reach it, Lincoln shouted for Ernst to take them into the skies.

"What about Samus?" Estry voiced her concern for the bounty Hunter, as the ship took to the skies.

"We'll head back around and pick her up." Lincoln responded with a grunt, turning to look out the hatch. The pelican banked hard as it turned completely around, now flying towards the location of the battle. When it came into view they were shocked to find that the number of aliens had drastically increased, forcing the hunter back against the cliff side. However, it seemed that now that she was alone, she was not as immobile as she was before. They could make out her form as she seemed to... Well, it almost seemed like she was dancing around the battle field, dodging, back flipping, and straight up jumping right over her enemies. Hundreds of the creatures lay dead at her feet, not a one of them moving.

To be honest, no one in the fire team thought that she would be nearly as agile as she was. That suit she wore looked like it would weigh over a thousand pounds, and yet she managed thirty foot leaps easily, practically flying through the air. It was amazing! Not only that, but the way she moved spoke wonders about her. There was not a single miss step, or missed shot, or even blood covering her suit. No, it seemed like this was something she had done before, and clearly succeeded at already.

"Hey!" Estry was pulled back to the situation when Lincoln shouted. "When you are done day dreaming, we can go down and pick her up." Lincoln grunted, standing on the ledge of the hatch. They pulled the pelican close to the cliff side, hovering around fifty feet away from the ledge. It was only when they got close enough that they noticed the survivor from earlier. Somehow, in their rush to get back to the ship they completely forgot the researcher, leaving him to the Hunter. If they got both of them out of this fight alive they were surely going to be getting an earful from the commander once they got back. Forgetting the mission objective mid mission was a blundering failure, and they knew it.

Meanwhile, Samus was currently struggling to hold off the advancing horde while protecting the teenager she was sent to rescue. Said teen was currently being held up at the waist by Samus's arm as she hugged him to her body, shielding him from harm. It made fighting off the horde harder then it needed to be, but she was not about to leave him behind for her own sake. That being said, she was a bit peeved that the fire team left the boy behind to save their own hides, leaving it up to her to save him.

"They're getting closer!" The teen's terrified scream filled her ears as she dodged to the side, avoiding an alien that got too close for comfort.

"I am aware of that." Samus responded with a growl, narrowly avoiding another alien's attack.

"Samus!" She was acutely aware of someone calling her name from a distance. She spared a quick glance to the side to find the Spartan's drop-ship hovering over the cliff side, the back hatch open wide with Spartan Dunlap reaching out to her. "Come on! We'll cover you!"

She didn't need to be told twice. At the Spartan's prompt, she took off in a dead sprint, quickly approaching the cliff side. Gunfire whizzed past her, taking down anything that got near her. Before she reached the ledge, she took to the air with a powerful leap crossing the gap. It was quickly apparent that she wouldn't make the jump however, because she started to fall barely twenty feet short of the ship. If the ship was just a bit closer then she would have made it.

Before anyone even had the chance to even call out to her in alarm, she suddenly jumped again... In mid air... Without touching anything...

"What in the name of..." Ignoring their shocked mutter, Samus landed safely aboard the pelican. She hit the emergency button bringing the hatch closed. Only when she knew they were safe did she finally set the poor male in her arms down, letting him fall back into a chair as he tried to stop shaking. The pelican shook slightly as it took off, leaving the cliff side behind. The Fireteam all took their seats again as a collective sigh rang out from among them.

"You.. Y-You saved me.." Samus glanced to the side at the sound of the researcher speaking up. The teen was definitely shaken from his extremely close brush with death only mere moments ago, and so she wasn't going to push him for information at this time. Questioning could wait for later, when they arrived safely back at the Infinity. Samus sat down across from him, resting up against the back of the wall.

"You.. You're not a-a Spartan, are you." He spoke up again, his eyes seeming locking with her own for a moment. What he said wasn't a statement, but merely an observation. He was still shaking, but she had a feeling that it was more then likely due to the adrenaline running through his system at the moment. She let the statement slide for a moment before responding.

"I'm a Bounty Hunter. I was hired to help them rescue your group." She responded simply, before turning a scowl to the other members of the Fireteam. "However, it seems that they forgot the objective here..." She stated, leaving the rest unsaid.

They knew that they had messed up in leaving the researcher behind in her care instead of taking him with them. In their defence, they weren't prepared for a mission of this calibre at all. But that excuse would only get them so far in a debriefing.

"T-Thank you." She turned back to the strange looking teen at the sudden response she heard from him. Her eyes locked with his and she could see the genuine gratitude held within. "I-If it wasn't for you... T-Then.. Then I wouldn't even... I wouldn't be.." His distraught mutterings were cut short when Estry took a seat beside him.

"Hey, it's alright now. You're safe with us. Nothing else will harm you." Her voice was calm and surprisingly soft as she spoke, her words having a visibly calming affect on him. He seemed to take her words to heart as he took a few shuttering breaths before he slumped in his chair, the tension leaving his muscles as he slowly faded to unconsciousness, the stress of the past twenty four hours taking its toll on his body and mind alike.

A silence fell in step after that, leaving a somewhat calm quite in it's wake. No one felt like braking that silence, and merely let it continue until they arrived safely back at Infinity...

* * *

-(LOCATION)-

-(UNSC-INFINITY)-

* * *

Fireteam Castle arrived back at the Infinity not too long after their successful escape from the previously unknown hostile planet. After docking safely in bay 5, the team then made their way to the debriefing room, only stopping to check in with bay control before they left. The sole survivor was being escorted personally by Samus herself, seeing as it was her mission to save him after all. That, and the young man said that he felt safe in her hands, so no one objected to it.

What Samus was concerned about was the fact of the kid's age. He seemed like he was no older then seventeen years old, if even that. What she wanted to know, was why someone so young was on such a potentially dangerous research mission in the first place. She knew it wasn't her place to question what they did, but she was going to do it anyway...

"What were you doing on that mission?" Samus asked, her sudden question catching the teen off guard. Her question caught the attention of the Spartans of Castle who were walking a small distance in front of her.

"Hmph, I'm not sure that is information he can share." Lincoln stated with a grunt, turning a glare to Samus. The Spartans of Fireteam Castle had taken their helmets off upon their arrival at bay 5, so Samus had taken the time to memorise their faces. Tashi was Asian, and had a rough looking scar covering his right eye, though he didn't seem blind.

"The mission wasn't a secret. He's free to share what happened with her if he feels so." Estry interjected, flashing Samus a small smile. The woman's soft voice matched her gentle looking face.

"Tsk..." Lincoln grunted, turning to face ahead.

With no more interruptions coming from the fireteam, Samus turned her attention back to the young man. It was then she actually took the time to study him in closer detail. She had put off the strange light blue colored skin and dark purple hair as merely a condition of some kind at first, but now she wasn't sure that was it. However, once she saw the tail sprouting from his backside, she knew that he wasn't human. He also had these two moth-like fur covered extensions coming from the top of his head, while his tail ended in a sort of sharpened spade shape. His ears were also pointed, extending past that of a normal Human's, and he had only three fingers on his hands. Topped off with a bundle of fur growing around his collarbone that extended around to the back of his neck, Samus was surprised that she didn't notice beforehand. But then again, he was wearing a lab coat up until a minute ago, so that may have had something to do with it.

"I-Oh, um.. I was one of the head researchers there..." He responded a bit uncomfortably. With the way that Samus's gaze hadn't left him since she first asked the question, he was starting to feel a little nervous. That stare of hers tended to have that affect on people.

"Maybe I wasn't clear..." Samus started, seemingly unsatisfied with him answer. "Why were you on such a dangerous mission in the first place?" She asked a bit more seriously, placing him with that stunning stare again. He was at a loss for words at the moment, clearly caught off guard by her question. What she was asking exactly, he didn't quite know.

Without receiving an answer, she turned forward again. "Honestly, they might as well have sent you to die." From the tone in her voice, she was clearly upset about him being in danger like that at all.

Of course, it was to be expected that danger would follow you wherever you go in the universe, and being in the UNSC did not make that any safer. Danger was part of the job description in a sense, and trying to avoid it was basically useless. So that was why he was confused by her, how would he say... Protective response to him facing such danger...

"W-Well.. It was just supposed to be a simple research mission, the danger was minimal at best..." He muttered, turning his head down to avoid locking gazes with her again. "Even then, that was why we brought along those Marines..." Why did he feel like he was being scolded by an angry mother? It was strange, but with the way she spoke, even as monotone as it was, he couldn't help but feel like she was being oddly protective. Which given the circumstance, it was odd.

She quite literally just met him, so that ruled out the will to protect someone she loved from being the answer. She wasn't showing any signs if attachment to him, which helped him narrow down the answers somewhat. Was it because he was younger then everyone else here? Perhaps, but that also didn't seem correct either. Making assumptions from nothing wasn't him style, so he wouldn't bring it up unless he found more evidence to go and build one of his many theories...

That, and it was impossible to concentrate when she was staring at him like that. He wasn't sure what the gaze of hers meant, the meaning behind it, nor the power it held. Was it deep interest? Was it quiet loathing? Contemplative anger perhaps? Or was she merely lost in thought, and ended up looking at him when it happened?

What ever the case, it would seem that it would have to wait until another time, because the briefing room came into sight...

* * *

The debrief went about as well as she expected it to. Lasky was relived to see that her mission had been accomplished in the speed that it was, that and the fact that the survivor was completely unharmed. However, he wasn't pleased to hear about the gruesome fate of his marines, but that outcome could not be affected by Samus's arrival alongside the Spartans.

He was extremely pleased, however, to hear of the way Samus protected young Damien over her own safety, leaving him completely unscathed. That kind of attitude was not as common among his Spartans as he would have liked it to be. He didn't say it out loud, but if Samus continued to prove herself to him and the UNSC command; Well, let's just say that she might find herself at home among his ranks. But it was too soon to say anything else on the matter.

However...

When the fact of Fireteam Castle's apparent failure to secure the survivor's safety came into light... Lasky couldn't be more disappointed... With their disappointing actions today, as well as failure to follow mission procedures, they were not setting good examples of Spartans as a whole. And Lasky was sure that this little incident wouldn't help to build friendly relations between Samus herself and Spartans in general. This would overall affect his goal of building trust between the UNSC and any other alien race out there. If he couldn't keep it civil on his own ship, then what were other species supposed to expect from them?

He wasn't about to let this failure go unpunished, and that was made apparently clear when the words 'Commander Palmer' 'War Games' and 'Custom Match' were spoken. Practically had them shaking in their boots with that alone.

At that point, Lasky called an end to the debriefing, and Samus and Damien were free to go. What happened after that Samus didn't know, mainly because she didn't care enough to stick around to find out.

She was tired. Saying that alone didn't do justice to how she actually felt in that moment. She was bloody exhausted from the nonstop action without rest. It didn't help that the only chance she had at resting was abruptly ruined by an urgent rescue mission. She had been awake for almost two days at this point, and before that she was in a pained state of restless unconsciousness after her escape from Phaaze. Since the first moment she awoke in the federation ship after being attacked by her dark clone over a month ago, she had not stopped for a moment of rest, because there just wasn't the time to.

Oh, but now? Now nothing was going to stop her from taking a good long nap. And if it did? Well...

She couldn't be held responsible for what she may or may not do in that situation... She did not handle a severe lack of sleep very well, and it really showed with how she acted and the way she moved. Her usual stride that radiated confidence and power had been replaced with a stiff brisk walk. It was the kind of situation where everyone subconsciously steered clear, even without knowing the problem.

When she finally reached the elevator and pressed the button for the habitation deck, she let out a nonexistent sigh, and the doors closed...

* * *

By the time she reached the hallway that connected to her room, the Power-Suit had already started to waver as her concentration had all but fled her in that moment. As she reached her door she started to levitate as the last remnants of the suit vanished, leaving her fully exposed once again. She swiped her arm over the door scanner sloppily, and the door hummed momentarily before sliding open to her. Grabbing ahold of the wall, she pulled herself into the room, barely remembering to shut the door behind her as she floated towards her bed.

She realised that levitating would make sleeping in a bed a problem, but right now she didn't really care whether or not she fell asleep in the air or on a flat surface. Reaching the soft land of comfortable pillows, she took hold of the side and pulled herself down to the bed. The second she let go, however, she started to float again.

Not one to be so easily deterred, she took hold of a rather large pillow and placed it on her back. Strangely enough it was actually heavy enough to hold her down. With that done, she finally stopped holding on and let her eyes close, consciousness quickly fading away until it was replaced with a lovely quiet rest. This time, however, it wasn't going to be ruined by someone.

For the first time in around a month, Samus actually got some well deserved rest. Unknown to her however, but a certain Skirmisher had followed her the entire way back, only to be blocked by the doorway. However, the holes left in the door from earlier that day had yet to be repaired, leaving an easy peep hole for her to use.

She had been spying on her since their first encounter roughly a day ago. She couldn't explain it, but something about her called out to her on a primal level, urging her to her. It made her want to get as close to her as possible, bask in her powerful form for as long as the universe deemed possible. Seeing her blinded her mind, making it impossible to focus on anything but her. For some reason, nothing else mattered if he got to her in the end.

But she was stopped by something as insignificant as a simple door, taunting her with these holes which only allowed her to watch from a distance. But she could see it! That power radiating off of her blue body! It called out to her, ordering her to serve it without question. It took hold of her mind, and simply refused to let go. And the lack of close proximity was pulling at her mind, filling it with thoughts of mindless service all for her.

But it looked like she would have to wait for another time...

All because of a stupid door...

* * *

Chapter 6 END.

**Author's Note**

I really want to hear y'all's thoughts on the story so far. I'll see you in the next chapter.


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note**

My apologies for the long wait. I had a few projects that got in the way of things, but that's done now. I hope you all enjoy the latest chapter of Total Corruption. Please feel free to leave a review on your thoughts as I would love to hear them.

* * *

**LEGEND BELOW**

"We've got a live one over here!" = Normal speech.

_''What in the world?''_ = Normal thoughts/communication system.

* * *

**-(LOCATION)-**

**-(UNSC-INFINITY)-**

A day had passed since her first successful mission under the UNSC, and had busied herself with attempting the repair of her Gun-Ship. She had been extremely doubtful that the space craft would survive the damage it sustained during her escape from Phaaze, but the main bulk of it was still intact, with only the weapon systems and the thrusters damaged. Yes it would definitely not be flying any time soon, but repairs were not impossible like she had first thought.

This pleased her greatly, and though she may have not shown out outwardly, she was deeply relieved at the simple fact that she was not going to have to replace another Gun-Ship. She had already gone through at least two now, and she wasn't aiming for a third. It was one less thing for her to have to worry about, and for that she was grateful. However, she could worry about fixing the ship up later, because right now, she had more important things to attend to.

She had a date with the bath that she was not under any circumstances going to brake. It had been quite a while since she last took a shower or bath, as she had been too busy going on back to back missions for the Federation in an attempt to stop her dark clone. So she didn't think it was greedy of her to ask for something as small as a little privacy and some time in a bath. Whether or not a night in a bath still felt as good as it did in a human body compared to her new one didn't matter all that much to her right then.

With repairs finished for the day she made her way out of the converted hanger bay and into the main hallway set on a path for the main deck elevator. She passed by a few groups of marines on her way, but paid them of no mind. Once inside the transport she set it for the habitation deck, only stopping along the way when others joined in. She was alone by the time she reached the habitats, with only the light hum of the Power-Suit to accompany her. This suited her just fine, as she rather enjoyed the silence.

However, she only made it about halfway down the corridor leading to her room when someone ran into her, running head first into her breastplate. She glanced down at her perpitrator, who was none other then the strange researcher boy from before, Damian if she recalled correctly. He was disheveled, seeming as if he had just been rudely awakened for something important and didn't have the time to properly clean up before rushing off. She could relate very well with that.

"O-Oh! Sorry! Sorry!" Damian apologized quickly as he struggled to stand back up. He felt as though he ran head first into a titanium wall, and that wall didn't budge at all. He grabbed onto the first thing he could as he stood back up, which just so happened to be a thick piece of hardened metal surrounding something, a leg maybe. He blinked multiple times to try and clear his vision, but it seemed impossible to make anything out clearly. However, he was able to make out what he was holding on to; That being the conjunction between thigh and hip on some kind of dark blue armor. That waso when he looked up to find the silhouette of a dark red helmet and blue visor staring back down at him. He was unconsciously aware of the armored hand outstretched to him holding onto a pair of glasses, glasses that he took and quickly put back into place.

"Oh, uh, h-hello again.." Damian responded, suddenly unsure of his situation. Samus said nothing, merely stating back at him unblinkingly. He found her gaze rather strong, and was unable to hold it for more then a moment without looking away. He felt himself shifting nervously under the intensity of her gaze, and found that his voice seemingly left him for the moment.

"Watch where you're going, might hit something harder." She spoke suddenly, ruffling his hair lightly before walking away without another word said. He couldn't tell if he was just chastised or if she meant what she said, the level of emotion in her voice made it really hard to tell. He watched as she walked away, unable to tear his gaze away from her armored form as she went. And that was when he noticed something he didn't see beforehand.

_''Wait... Is that...''_ He silently questioned, staring at her armored backside. It stood out clear as day now that he focused on it. The armor that covered her rear was shaped like.. Well... A butt. A perfectly shaped butt made out of metal. It even had a outline down the middle too, which really helped make the shape. _''W-Why..?''_ He couldn't help but question in his head. And with the way she walked, it was as if it was made to draw attention to it. As a researcher and inventor himself, he couldn't possibly fathom the reason why.

And as if she could sense his gaze on her, she stopped at the end of the hall, turning to look at him from the corner of her vision. Once again without words she clearly responded. He got caught staring when he probably shouldn't have. The moment lasted for just that, a moment, before she turned away and disappeared back around the corner. He shook his head, trying to clear the image from his brain to no avail. He glanced back down at his watch, before suddenly remembering that he had somewhere to be. Without another glance in her direction, he disappeared down the opposite end of the hall, heading towards the main elevator.

By this point Samus had reached her room, not waiting a moment to press her hand to the DNA scanner. A buzz of confirmation sounded out and the door slid open for her. Her shoulders slumped tiredly as she entered the confines of her bedroom, her suit already vanishing as her concentration waned, leaving her floating above the ground once again. This time around however, she decided that it was time she got the hang of this flying thing.

Closing her eyes she concentrated carefully, bringing her mind to a calm. If lowly almost mindless predators could do it, then damn it she could too. She felt with her senses rather then with physical sensations. It took a while, but she eventually stopped drifting around the room, hovering in place now.

_''Come on girl, you can do it...''_ She silently commented to herself, keeping her mind calm. Whenever she began to lose control she would stop and wait for a moment until she gained control over it again. Slowly, ever so slowly she edged herself closer to the ground. One foot, then the next, until she was standing firmly on the floor. However, it seemed holding herself grounded was the hard part, because when she went to take a step she lost connection to the ground again. She tried again and again, but barely made it more the two steps before she was floating once more. It seemed that in trying to keep to her human ways was not going to work anymore. Walking seemed to be out of the question when out of her suit. That just meant that she had to improvise, nothing new to her.

Once again she reined back her senses, bringing herself to a standstill in the air. The from there she focused on trying to move herself forward without the use of her legs or her arms. It was hard at first, but she eventually started slowly moving forward. She warily opened one eye, botching her concentration, but not to the point that it stopped her. She continued to get a handle on it until she could move around with both eyes open, harder then she wanted it to be. She spent the next few minutes practicing with her newfound ability to control herself in the air until she was satisfied in her capability to safely move about in a controlled environment. This practice session proved very successful, but left her already exhausted mind and body tired.

With that thought in mind she carefully moved to the bathroom, entering through the open doorway and into the rather formal looking room. It wasn't the fanciest bathroom she'd ever seen, but it was rather nice all things considered. The bathtub was all she was worried about, and it looked like it would satisfy her needs perfectly for the time being.

There was a touchscreen on the wall of the tub, listing many different settings she could use to her heart's desire. Now came the big decision. What did she want? Hot or cold? For some reason an intense shiver ran through her body that last thought. Hot, yes hot would do very good. No hesitation lay witting her as she input her setting.

The water began to fill the tub quickly, and Samus stood back until it was finished. After it filled to her desired level it shut off, and was quick to test it. Taking her right claws she dipped them in the water, before pulling them back out.

_''Perfect.''_ She practically purred, before she climbed in. The hot water felt absolutely wonderful on her tired body. She lay back, resting her head on the soft material that made up the back half. She propped her legs up, crossing them over and resting her feet on the other end of the tub. Her arms lay on the sides, lightly holding onto the tub. Her eyes softly closed, the bright orange fire in them calming as she simply let her stresses go. She finally felt relaxed after everything that she had gone through recently, and if she could she would have probably stayed in there for an hour or two.

But alas, the universe simply did not agree with her train of thought. Barely ten minutes in she was interrupted. That interruption came in the form of the screen that hid behind her feet powering on. She was about to simply ignore it, but then a voice came through the small speaker attached to it.

"Samus? Samus are you there?" It was the marine from the other day, the same one that came to send her to Lasky. She was using the communication system that was attached to the outside of the door, it had a camera and a live feed as well. Currently that live feed was sending footage of what appeared to be two opaque blue feet.

Samus parted her feet to the side, letting the camera see through. Though her feet were the only thing stopping the camera from seeing her entire body, and the marine accidentally ended up getting an eyeful of Samus bathing. Instead of covering herself up she just stared at the woman through the camera, waiting for her to explain herself. The woman had to actually take a second to compose herself before continuing with her message.

"I- Captain Lasky wants y- requires you on the c-command deck. Said it's urgent." She informed, slipping up halfway through. Samus's eyes pulled up in irritation before she stood up in the tub, the water falling off her body in spades. She gently floated over to the oversized dryer which quickly dried her off before she then made her way into her bedroom. Closing her eyes in concentration, she once again summoned the Power-Suit before making her way out. The door to her room opened revealing the flabbergasted looking marine on the other side.

She stared down at the marine for a moment before quickly making her way down the hall. She was irritated, but waiting around wasn't going to solve that particular problem. Whatever Lasky wanted had better be quick, she had things she wanted to get done. The marine blankly watched her go, her mind reeling at what she saw.

_''I can't believe it... Even an alien is hotter then me... This is ridiculous!''_ Her inner turmoil about her looks compared to, and in her own words, that hot alien, aside, she dejectedly walked away. She had other reports to write, and they weren't going to write themselves anytime soon, no matter how much she wished they did...

* * *

The command deck was abuzz with life, and her senses were assaulted with the sound of a hundred busy people as they ran about, keeping everything in check. Stepping into the massive room, no one seemed to pay her any mind, not that she really cared. These people didn't really know who she was, and what she's done over the course of her life, so it was obvious why they didn't really see her as anything... Yet.

Looking around the deck she spotted what looked like a meeting between Lasky and some unknown marines in motion. Being the responsible woman that she was, she decided to barge right on in un-announced, obviously. Without saying anything she walked right up, coming up behind one of the darkly colored armored marines. It was the sound of her boots clacking on the floor that alerted them of her presence, but by then she was practically on top of them.

The one she snuck up on felt something bump into the back of his head, only to turn around and come face to chest with an armored figure he had never seen before. He glanced up to spot the dark blue visor staring back down at him, but it turned away a moment later, giving him only a short glimpse of the face that hid behind it.

"Lasky." Samus called out, simultaneously alerting him that she had arrived and that she was ready to get the show on the road. The man himself stopped in the middle of whatever he was saying at her sudden presence. Turning away from the holo-projector he face the squad of marines, quickly spotting the form of Samus towering over them from behind. He smiled a little to himself at her single worded arrival, he felt like that was going to become a thing at this rate.

"Ah, Samus, right on time." He greeted, the smile on his face one of formality. The rest of the marines turned back to face the source of the sudden intrusion, only to be left clueless as to who the person was. "I hope you weren't busy." He said, more of in a way that was meant to brake the ice instead of anything else. However, Samus felt the need to correct him on one thing.

"I was taking a bath." Her response wasn't expected and through the marines for a loop. Weather or not what she said was true, or if it was some tricky form of word play, they did not know.

"Ah I see, my apologies then. Well now that you are here, let's get down to business." With the greetings out of the way, he began to prep her on the reason she was called forth. "I have another mission assignment for you." He turned back to the holo-projector, bringing up the map of a nearby planet, the same one her first mission took place on. "I'm sending another research team down there. However, knowing of the danger the local life forms pose, protection was bumped up." He gestured to the black armored squad behind him. "These ODST's are serving as the main defense, but..." He turned away from the now named ODST's, facing the terminal again.

"You are still concerned about their safety." It was statement, not a question. Feeling as if their skills were being brushed aside, a few of the ODST's took offense to her contribution to the conversation.

"Permission to speak freely Captain." One of the shorter soldiers asked, a hint of irritation in her voice. They couldn't see it, but a small smile formed on his face.

"Permission granted." He responded after a moment.

"I understand your concerns Captain, but I highly doubt we'll need the assistance of a Spartan." At this point the soldier turned back to glance at Samus, who in turn was already looking at her. There seemed to be a staring contest between the two women, one much taller, and one that barely scratched her chest in height.

"I do not recall stating that your backup was a Spartan." Lasky responded with a frown. The brief surprise that passed along the ODST's at his statement was only followed by more questions. "No, today you are all going to be receiving assistance from Samus here. She's working on proving herself to the UNSC, and I believe that this is a perfect way to do so." He informed, before uploading a very underdeveloped profile folder of Samus to each of their HUD's. The file only contained the basics, and that wasn't much. In fact it was less than Lasky knew, but that wasn't saying much.

Captain Lasky's mission briefing did nothing to change their opinion on the situation, nor affirm them of their safety. But there was not much they could do about it, and so they had to suck it up and proceed with orders. With a salute to the man in charge, the squad made themselves scarce. Samus watched them go, intent on following after them, only to have Lasky stop her.

"I understand that your time here has not amounted to much yet, but can I have faith in you that they will survive?" If it was anyone else, it would have seemed like a stretch. Lasky knew he was going out on a long shot here, but for some reason he felt that she could be trusted with their lives. It seemed incredibly foolish of him, and Samus knew this. But yet she knew that by him putting that faith in her, that she couldn't let him down. It was time to prove herself as an asset to him.

"You can." She responded, giving him her full attention. "I won't let anything stand in my way. You have my word." Samus reassured him. This was the first time she had made a promise to him, and to such a magnitude. But it was the way she said it, the utter confidence in her voice that really reassured him that he had nothing to worry about. There was no hint of worry or false bravado coming from her. No, he realized that he had just received the word that the mission would be a complete success from someone that knew perfectly well what they were capable of to such a degree that they knew when they could give their word with no inch of doubt hidden behind it. It was with that realization that he sent her off, knowing that she would bring his men back to him safe and alive.

* * *

Samus was a few minutes behind the ODST squad, so by the time she arrived at the Pelican bay the engine was already warmed up and raring to go. Most of the soldiers were already seated in their spots, with only one of them left out waiting for her to join them.

"You're late, we need to get moving." It was a male soldier this time. She made out the distinct number on his helmet that labeled him as Red-2, likely his squad position. She brushed off the comment from him and stepped into the Pelican, taking a seat next to the exit hatch. She glanced around her, taking in every man and woman she was tasked with protecting. There was eight of them that made up the squad. Good, she could work with eight. She'd worked with more then that before, twelve to be precise, and she wished that she could say that every one of them survived.

"I'm unsure if the Captain informed you, but we are meeting up with the research team on the flight. They left a few minutes before us, so we'll have to play catch-up." It was the squad leader that spoke up, catching her attention. His helmet read Red-1, reaffirming her of his position of Fireteam leader. With his piece said, the Pelican took off, speeding through the open bay hatch.

Not far ahead of their current position was another Pelican that was heading toward the planet. The Researchers Pelican was a bit heavier looking, and seemed to be towing a small mobile base. Within a few minutes the two ships broke atmosphere and were flying through the skies. The Researchers ship was the first to set down, while hers was set on running a quick patrol of the area around the landing site.

"Alright people, you know what to do. Keep those people down there alive!" Red-1 spoke up as the Pelican made for a landing. The ODST's braced themselves as the hatch opened. "Move out!" With the command given they all rushed out, quickly scanning their surroundings for any immediate threat.

"West side clear!" One shouted.

"North is clear!" Another followed up.

"Nothing on East!" Red-2 responded.

"South's clear!" The last confirmed. With the immediate area secured, the troops regrouped back at the Pelican.

"Alright Red-Team, the area's clear." Red-Leader announced, taking a moment for himself to glance around the area. "Red five, six, seven, and eight, I want you with the researchers. Two, three, and four, you're with me. Let's keep this op clean people, I don't want to send anyone home in a body bag." With orders given, the group split up into two. The Red team leader turned back to Samus, giving her a nod of confirmation, before joining his group in setting up a quick defense around the small base the Pelican dropped.

Samus watched as the two groups split apart, keeping her eyes on them for a moment before tending to her duties. It was up to her to keep these men and women alive, and she was not about to let a single one down. With her resolve set, her visor darkened as she stepped off the Pelican and into the wild.

Time to assess the situation for the best outcome. The Researchers base had been placed in the middle of a wide open field with forests closing in on three different sides, West, East, and North; While the southern side was covered by a huge swamp. Most of the surrounding forest trees were rather short, providing less cover for anything that chose to try and sneak in close. It also meant that she wouldn't have such a problem picking anything off before it got too close for comfort, something she appreciated very much.

However, she was done with playing around on ground level. Too many negatives were possible with boots on the ground action. No, what she needed was a height advantage over any local hostiles. Taking a moment to scan her surroundings, she spotted a tall bushy tree lining the forest's edge, a perfect spot for overwatch.

"Good." She muttered to herself, before making her way across the field with a jog. She caught the attention of two of the ODST's that were posted on that side of the field, and they couldn't help but notice that she was running towards the tallest tree within five miles.

"What do you think she's up to?" One of them said out loud, watching the Bounty Hunter out of the corner of his eye. The other soldier hummed in thought, giving the blue armored member of their squad a glance.

"No idea." Was his well thought out response. The other ODST rolled his eyes at his friends lackluster reply, and turned back to scouting the immediate area.

Samus stopped at the base of the tree, taking a quick note of her surroundings. The tree was extremely large, and the way it was shaped would make it pretty difficult to scale for someone lacking the proper equipment. However, this posed no problem for someone of her caliber.

Taking a few steps back, she suddenly ran forward, taking to the air with a single jump that easily reach upwards of thirty feet. Now only a short distance from the first suitable branch, she made a space jump and ascended another twenty feet, landing safely atop the branch. Soon enough, she vanished from sight, now hidden atop the massive tree canopy. She had a clear view of the whole area from there.

Back down on the ground, the two ODST's were befuddled to find that the Hunter had simply vanished from sight. They checked their radar, but even that brought up nothing.

"What the? Where did she go?" Red six asked. Her question caught the other ODST's attention, and now they were both looking for her. Suddenly their com system went off, and the eerie sounding voice of their newest squad mate was patched through.

"You two are awfully loud down there..." Came the otherworldly voice of Samus into their headsets. They tensed up at her voice, but still couldn't find her. "Don't make my job harder then it is..." While insulted at her words, they both knew that she was correct. They were being a little too carefree, and it was exactly what the marines on the last mission did that got them killed. Reluctantly, they backed down.

"I have your back..." Samus confirmed, before closing the audio link.

* * *

Chapter 7 END.


	8. Chapter 8

Author's Note

I finally found the time to continue this. I hope you're happy! Feel free to tell me how you feel about the story so far, or anything you really enjoy. Any ideas are free accepted as well.

* * *

LEGEND BELOW

"We've got a live one over here!" = Normal speech.

_''What in the world?''_ = Normal thoughts/communication system.

* * *

-(LOCATION)-

-(UNNAMED-PLANET)-

It had been over five hours since the team landed on the planet, and so far not a single hostile had been spotted. The most the squad had encountered was some stray wildlife that got a little too curious for their own good. As such, the day felt like it was dragging on longer then they wanted it to. But as soldiers of the UNSC, they weren't about to just leave their posts.

That being said, some of them tended to get a bit distracted when a lack of action stretched for too long. Of course, that distraction was exactly what any enemy would be looking for. They were lucky that anything that they'd end up fighting out here didn't have guns to fight back with. That being said, their lack of attentiveness was starting to irritate their extra protection.

"Sooo..? How'd the game go the other night?" Samus felt like rolling her eyes as he had the pleasure of listening in on the ODST's conversations. Very dull, and not what she expected, especially from the so called 'best of the best'.

The ODST in question turned to the other beside him, giving the question some thought. "What, you mean the war games?" He asked, getting a nod in affirmation. "I thought blue team would win for sure this time..." He seemed downtrodden, apparently annoyed by his quote un-quote team's lack of victory as of late. Just who and what they were talking about, Samus had absolutely no idea, and just listing to them made her want to turn her radio off and never turn it back on. But for the sake of the mission she left it on, even though she hated it.

"Yeah, it was real close there for a second. Blue had the lead right up until the end there..." The other responded back, giving his gun a once over absentmindedly.

"Right!? But then red came out of nowhere with that Spartan-Charge triple kill, ended the whole game..." The second guy said with a grunt, seemingly finding his SMG very interesting at the moment.

_''A... a game..?''_ She was losing it having to listen to these two unprofessional fools banter back and forth about something so trivial as sports, whatever kind of sports they may be. Did they forget that they weren't within the safe confines of their mothership, and instead on a known hostile planet? Were they really that careless, or were they actually being attentive in this situation? Samus's fiery eyes narrowed behind her visor, a little test forming in her head. Maybe this would teach them to pay attention and do their part of the job, especially since they had the privilege of her skills and firepower to backup anything they may come across out here.

The female Bounty Hunter turned to her arm cannon, altering a few settings. She dumbed the power output of the Power-Beam down to ten percent of its normal power. This wouldn't kill, not by a long shot, but it would offer quite the surprise when it hit you. She then proceeded to aim it directly at the two distracted soldiers.

"I know.. I didn't think red wou-" Whatever he was going to say died in his throat when two orange colored balls of energy slammed into both him and the other guy, knocking them both to the ground. Their shout of pain was more or less reactionary, as the attack did almost absolutely nothing to their armor.

"What!? What in the..!?" One of them shouted, grabbing at his chest where he was just shot, only to find chips of paint peel away, no blood. Heart drumming in his ears, he quickly got to his feet, checking his surroundings, same as the other guy. "The hell was that!?" He shouted, unable to find the source of the attack. That was, until the glint of a blue visor caught his attention. Both the soldiers turned to find their additional protection standing atop one of the tallest trees within a mile, with her cannon pointed right at them.

"What's your problem!? You could have killed us!" The other ODST accused, brandishing his silenced MAGNUM. The commotion managed to catch the attention of the rest of the squad, who were content to silently watch how it played out, but ready to interfere at a moments notice. The woman didn't respond at first, only tilting her head to the side in a way that unnerved the two soldiers.

"Consider that your warning." She spoke up loud and clear, lowering her weapon to the ground not twenty feet from the soldiers. She fired again, this time at full power. The blast struck true, killing a rather vicious looking alien that had been slowly creeping towards them in the grass. The two brought their gazes back up to the imposing armored alien. The meaning behind her words were clear to them now. They hadn't been paying attention, and it nearly cost them their lives. They messed up, and she wasn't about to have that continue.

The two soldiers turned to face each other, coming to terms with what just happened. Their pride had taken a massive hit, and there was nothing they could do about it. What Samus said rang through their heads again, further cementing their mistakes and the fact that she even bothered to correct them. And correct them she did. The two silently returned to their post, now more attentive to their surroundings then before. They wouldn't realize it until later just how thankful they should be towards her.

With the situation seemingly resolved, she turned her attention back to the surrounding area. Another thermal sweep with her visor confirmed that the area was all clear. Without the immediate threat of any surprise attack, Samus took it upon herself to relax a little. Bending down, she took a seat atop the strongest part of the tallest branch. Relaxing as she now was, her vigilance stayed, as it always did.

Time passed in silence now, but it was more comfortable then before. The last hostility they received was from the local wildlife, but nothing else followed up. The sun had begun to set on the planet, casting a rather beautiful color across the skyline. The danger of an attack at dark was a very real thing, but she refused to be caught off guard again. She was there to watch over those that couldn't watch over themselves, and that's what she currently found herself doing.

Damian, that strange purple haired alien researcher from before, had wandered away from the others, following a trail that his equipment had picked up. That trail had just so happened to have led him to the sniping perch that she was hiding in, unknown to him of course. The strange young man carefully maneuvered through the foliage, avoiding trees and the like without even looking.

"Interesting.. The readings are spiking again.." He mumbled to himself, tapping at a few buttons on his PDA. He had been searching throughout the forest for the last few hours now, chasing after a faint energy signature that he has been having troubles tracking to a single point. But now, it seems his systems have finally narrowed it down.

He stopped just under the tree she hid in, unaware of her presence. Yet she watched him like a hawk, never taking her eyes off him as he moved. His PDA beeped at him again as it suddenly lost the signal again.

"Ah, there it goes again..." He muttered, more in confused interest than annoyance. Still, he tried not to let the failed attempt get him down. He wasn't on a timed schedule here, he had as much time as he needed to find it. He just didn't want to keep the commander longer then they needed to.

His ears twitched suddenly at the faint sound of something moving. His body went rigged, afraid. Was it another one of those vile creatures from before? He shuddered at the thought. Those beasts were very dangerous, and hardy too. It took more then a few well placed shots to take them down.

He carefully, quietly turned in the direction of the sound, ears down and eyes narrowed. Where way his protection? The men that were sent to protect him? Perhaps leaving the group behind without telling anyone was a bad idea, and it seemed that he was going to suffer the consequences of his actions. Like a deer caught in the headlights of a truck, he froze up when the beast suddenly lunged at him.

Was this it? Was this how he'd meet his end? By the acid dripping maws of a vicious alien? Whatever may have happened was instantly decided for him, in the form of a powerful beam of green energy, as it practically vaporized the creature out of the air, leaving only a scorch mark on the ground below as a sign that there was ever anything there in the first place. He could hear his heart beating in his ears, blood pumping. That was too close, the second time he's almost gotten killed by one of those things.

"Trying to get yourself killed..?" A voice spoke up from above him. With a startled jump he turned to find Samus looming over him from atop her perch on the tree. From the tone of her voice he couldn't tell wether she was asking him a question, accusing him of something, confirming something she was thinking, or all three. Probably all three...

"O-Ogra! Iki-tume! Err- T-Thank you.." He struggled to find the right thing to say, just coming down from an adrenaline high, the words in his head were scrambled. If the Bounty Hunter was surprised by his little slip up, she didn't let it show, nor did she comment on it.

"Why did you separate from your group?" Samus continued, leveling him an accusatory stare. Damian for his part, felt like he was once again being scolded by an angry overprotective mother. An overprotective, super suit wearing, blue colored female alien creature, who had an aggressive motherly streak. Yes, definitely not what he or anyone else expected.

"I was following a trail...?" Damian responded a little slowly. He could feel that stare morph into a frown. Hmm, perhaps that was the wrong thing to say?

"A.. Trail..?" Now that she repeated it to him it did sound like a paper thin excuse. He had the decency to blush in shame.

"I-It's not that simple.." He defended, bending down to retrieve his PDA. "The Infinity has been tracking a stray signal across the last three planets. This planet seems to be the origin, but I'm having trouble isolating it..." He explained, bringing up a mission report for her. The Hunter fell from the tree top, ground shuffling below her boots as she landed. "It, I-I- The signal led this way, but I ran.. into some.. interference.. along the.. way..." His voice slowly trailed off as she approached him. He closed his eyes reflexively, for some reason afraid that he was going to be hit. Then he felt himself removed from the ground and placed upon her shoulders, thighs resting around her helmet.

"Where is this trail of yours?" Samus inquired, ignorant to his embarrassment. The young man fumbled with his PDA, bringing up the last known trail.

"The trail led that way..." He pointed in the direction the darker part of the forest, the energy trail quickly fading from his sensors. Samus narrowed her eyes, before activating her X-Ray Visor. To her the world turned into a mix of whites, blacks, and blues, everything becoming partially transparent. She slowly scanned the surrounding areas, searching for something only she could see.

Meanwhile, Damian was suffering an inner turmoil. Honestly, it was utterly embarrassing. He was being carried around as if he were the most fragile little glass doll, and it didn't help that she could throw him around so easily. It was one of those times that he hated being so small, with how Samus towered over over him quite literally. He was an adult damnit! Where did she get off manhandling him like that? His embarrassment at the fact was only just, and he was suddenly grateful that they were alone. He would die of embarrassment if word got out that he was being carried around like a child atop an almost seven foot super armored alien woman.

Yet he could probably never bring himself to speak up to her about it. That, and he was ashamed to say that he secretly liked it up there, despite the embarrassment it brought. It was primal in nature in the sense that he felt safe in the arms of someone much bigger and undisputedly stronger then he himself. He found the want to complain die in his throat, and took the new sensations for what they were. Guilty pleasures, they were.

"There." Samus's voice broke him from his train of thought. She was pointing to a rather insignificant looking part of the forest, a place that looked just the same as everywhere else. "There is a structure under there."

"What!?" He exclaimed in shock. "Our systems never detected anything underground!" He couldn't believe it. Something that significant hidden right under their noses.

"Your systems didn't." She responded, as if that perfectly explained everything. He went to speak up, but stopped when she raised her weapon at the rock.

"You're probably going to need a rocket. The troops back at camp have-" Damian's recommendation was cut off as the barrel of Samus's Arm-Cannon opened wide, and fired a missile. The rock was obliterated quite effectively, if not blown to pieces. "How did-!? I thought your weapon was plasma based..." He questioned, a bit lost. Had she switched it out before the mission? If so, then how did she fire that plasma shot earlier? That much weaponry couldn't physically fit into that much space. That missile wasn't small either.

"One is..." Came her brilliant response. He felt like he was being made a fool, and decided to drop it. So she had more then one weapon system, should have expected that to be honest. Besides, she destroyed the rock, so why was he complaining?

With the dust settling, Samus approached the location. Even with the block gone, it looked as if there was still nothing there but ground. But she knew better, and with her extremely advanced visor technology, she was able to pick apart the illusion technology that was hiding the entrance. Damian's eyes widened in shock when Samus, and he himself, literally walked into the ground. The second they passed the threshold, they found themselves inside the largest abandoned facility he had ever seen.

The walls were a light silver colored metal, with blue accents decorating the walls. Some of the supports had collapsed, wether due to age or an attack long over remained was unclear. But one thing was for sure. This was the certainly location of that strange signal that the Infinity had been following, and after passing into the structure, the signal became crystal clear.

"I can't believe this..." She heard him mutter in disbelief. He had already pulled his pda out and began recording all he could. "It looks abandoned, but... I'm detecting power within this facility." He was in business mode now, and it was all numbers. But, there was too much to safely explore on his own. He needed the whole team here. "Samus, could you radio Red team?" Damian asked, not tearing his eyes away from his pda. The Bounty Hunter nodded, before placing her fingers on the side of her helmet.

"Red Leader. Alert the research team. I've found their little mysterious signal's location..." Samus said, not elaborating any further. The man was confused, but decided against questioning her and simply did what she asked. Ten minutes later the entire research team alongside most of Red-Squad were mobile and on the move to her location...

Line break

When the people arrived, the researchers were quick to set up a small tactical station just passed the entrance, while the ODST's went to secure the immediate area. The men and women had been extremely surprised and relieved to have finally tracked down the source of their month long hassle, and expressed that to Samus herself.

While the entrance of the facility was secured, the rest of the complex was seemingly barricaded behind massive debris, and the soldiers weren't to eager to remove it. But the researchers insisted they explore farther inside. And if they were to figure out the reason of this facility's existence, that might assist them with tracking down others like it across the stars.

That being said, non of the troops were strong enough to move the debris out of the way, nor did they have a Spartan to move it. Explosives would work, but the researchers weren't going to have them blowing up half the facility just to get to the other half. Do they were at a sort of standstill, neither side willing to flex on the situation. At least, until Samus shoved herself into the situation and declared to solve this issue.

"Must I do everything?" The Bounty Hunter exclaimed aloud, moving towards the debris. Thinking that she was about to blow the whole thing up, the team leader moved to stop her.

"Now now, we're not about to let you blow this place up." He stated, blocking her path... That was, until he was effortlessly plucked from the ground and moved to the side by her hand. Surprised by the strength she easily displayed, he found his voice dying in his throat. Humbled and a little humiliated, he decided not to step in her way again. When the lasso of raw energy materialized from her hand, he felt the sudden urge to quickly move away.

It had been a little while since she had to use the Grapple-Lasso, and she had been waiting the for the next chance. Taking a powerful stance, she swung her left arm forward, the energy rope flying through the air before it landed on the debris. Then, much to everyone's surprise, she yanked her arm back. And the one ton support beam was ripped away, landing completely out of the way with a massive thud. The ground shook, and dust was kicked into the air. She repeated that for the rest of the main blockage, and soon enough an opening was formed to the inner facility.

"Explosives, huh?" Samus questioned, the lilt in her voice giving away her amusement. Red-Leader tried to school his expression, but his slumped shoulders gave away his completely baffled state, and he knew that she knew. With the debris completely cleared, they were able to truly enter into the facility. But from that point forward, the only source of light was coming from the glow of her Power-Suit.

"Alright people, let's be careful. This place looks like it was left a long time ago. Who knows the reason why." Red-Leader spoke up, putting the surprise behind him. "Lights on." He ordered. Like a well oiled team, every ODST's tactical light turned on at once. Samus decided to offer some help as well, and turned her headlamp on, flashing the next fifty feet in bright white. It was only then that they realized that they were on a bridge placed over a chasm, one that they couldn't see the bottom of.

They carefully crossed the bridge, with Samus leading the charge. If anything was going to come after them, then it would have to get passed her first. That however, wasn't going to happen. Walking only a few paces behind Samus was Damian, gaze switching quickly between taking in his surroundings and going over some reading on his pda.

The bridge led them to a main room that seemed to splinter off into other halls and corridors, most of them collapsed. But in the center seemed to be a control room, and if her brief scans of the area were correct, then this was the main room to an ancient alien's massive subterranean cartography base. The Bounty Hunter had very little information on the creatures that created this place, nor did she know what it was really for in the first place. That was important information that she was seriously lacking, and now that she thought on it harder, she really needed to spend a little time doing some research.

But it seemed that it would have to wait until she got back, because she just picked up movement on her radar. She stopped what she was doing, her head watching through the walls, looking for something.

"Red-Leader, I've picked up movement." Samus warned, powering up her weapon. The squad leader nodded, and the entire squad stopped. Now that they were alerted, they definitely picked up the sounds of something moving within the walls, and the ceiling. Multiple things. Hundreds of things. Quietly, but firmly, Samus ordered everyone to retreat. "Red-Leader, get everyone out of here, now."

"Team, lets fall back." He ordered, not letting his worry show with his voice. Whatever was in here didn't know that they were, and that was good. Because it only really dawned on them just now, that whatever was down here was caged in. But they had removed that cage in their search for information. They could only hope that whatever they may have unleashed wouldn't spell their doom.

"Run." He called, quickly moving towards the entrance. And as the ceiling began to burst apart, his voice became desperate. "I said run!" Like the flood gates had been opened, hundreds upon hundreds of creatures colored in a decaying tan burst from the ceiling. By this point most of the troops had crossed the bridge, with only Samus staying behind to hold the creatures back. Try as they might, nothing was able to pass through the chokehold that was a rapid fire burst of Plasma-Beam.

"Samus!!" She heard someone behind her shout, probably urging her to them. But that couldn't happen, she wouldn't let it. Whatever this new threat was, her charges were deathly afraid of it. With that as her premise, she deduced that it was extremely dangerous. Adding to the fact that something else had already sealed them away once, she decided to do the same.

Once she was sure that her people were safely across, much to everyone's horror, she stopped shooting, instead turning her back to the enemy. And then, she charged a powerful attack. Before anyone or anything had the chance to stop her, she fired a barrage of Super-Missiles that sped through the air, before detonating violently on the middle of the bridge. The walkway gave a single shutter, before the entire thing collapsed into the chasm, preventing anything from crossing.

The people watched in shock as the creatures fell over the edge, never to be seen again. However, their victory was short lived. In the time it took for Samus to destroy the bridge, the enemy had built up an attack behind her. And before she could even turn around to fight them off, her legs her swept out from underneath her as she was dog piled off the ledge. Surprised and shocked she tried to fire a Grapple-Beam to the ledge to save herself, but it only got caught up in the hundreds of bodies that followed her over.

"Come on, we've got to get the hell out of here!" Someone shouted, and the group was forced to leave her behind, unwilling to let the enemy progress passed the entrance.

"We can't just leave her!" Damian shouted from somewhere in the group. But his cries fell on deaf ears, as he was forced to the entrance by the rough grip of an ODST.

"She's gone! We can't go back for her!" The Red leader shouted back. "Clear the hole! We're gonna burry this place!" He ordered, pulling out a rocket launcher. The rest of his squad followed after him, and fired on the doorway. Damian watched in horror as Samus was buried inside the facility, the rest of the creatures alongside her. With the bridge destroyed and the entrance once again blocked, everyone quickly made it to the surface. They proceeded to block that entrance as well. Nothing would be escaping this place. For it was a burial ground now...

Damian was left wondering why things had fallen apart so quickly. He knew that if somehow she had survived, then she'd be praying that she hadn't. No one, not even the Master Chief himself would want to be trapped with the Flood. No one would ever wish that hell on anyone...


End file.
